Apple IPhone 5 Pre-Orders Top 2 Million, Doubling Record

By Ryan Faughnder and Adam Satariano - Sep 18, 2012 2:12 AM GMT+0700

 Apple Inc. (AAPL) said advance sales of its iPhone 5 topped 2 million units in one day, more than double the record set by the previous model of the device.

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The new iPhone 5 during an Apple special event in San Francisco. Photographer: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

10:50

Sept. 17 (Bloomberg) -- Christopher Grisanti, founding partner at Grisanti Capital Management, talks about investment strategy and the outlook for Apple Inc. Grisanti speaks with Erik Schatzker and Stephanie Ruhle on Bloomberg Television's "Market Makers." (Source: Bloomberg)

3:39

Sept. 17 (Bloomberg) -- Brian White, an analyst at Topeka Capital Markets, talks with Bloomberg's Betty Liu about the pre-orders for Apple's iPhone 5. They speak on Bloomberg Television's "In The Loop." (Source: Bloomberg)

0:49

Sept. 17 (Bloomberg) -- Apple Inc. said pre-orders of its iPhone 5 topped 2 million units in one day, more than double the sales record set by the previous model of the device. Betty Liu reports on Bloomberg Television's "In The Loop." (Source: Bloomberg)

1:51

Sept. 17 (Bloomberg) -- Dominic Chu reports on Apple's stock valuation. He speaks on Bloomberg Television's "In The Loop." (Source: Bloomberg)

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Sept. 17 (Bloomberg) -- A handful of people have begun camping out in front of Apple Inc.'s Fifth Avenue store on New York in anticipation of iPhone 5, which goes on sale in retail stores on Sept. 21. (Source: Bloomberg)

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People camp out in front of an Apple store in New York on Monday. Photographer: Peter Foley/Bloomberg

Because demand for the iPhone 5 exceeds the initial supply, some of the smartphones will be shipped to customers in October, Cupertino, California-based Apple said today in a statement. Most orders will be delivered on Sept. 21, the same day the handset arrives in U.S. retail outlets, Apple said.
“Clearly it’s a blowout,” said Brian White, an analyst at Topeka Capital Markets in New York, in an interview. He had anticipated sales of 1.3 million to 1.5 million units in the first 24 hours and up to 12 million by the end of the month. “These estimates look conservative.”
Apple gained 1.2 percent to $699.78 at the New York close and traded as high as $700.44, a record, in extended trading.
The iPhone is Apple’s best-selling product, making up about two-thirds of its profit. The company’s entry into the smartphone market in 2007 resulted in sales of 244 million iPhone units as of June and helped Apple become the world’s most valuable company. The new model, unveiled last week in San Francisco, has a bigger screen, light-weight body design, faster chip and new software features.

Shattered Record

“IPhone 5 pre-orders have shattered the previous record held by the iPhone 4S and the customer response to the iPhone 5 has been phenomenal,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of global marketing, in the statement.
Apple is vying with Samsung Electronics Co. and other smartphone manufacturers for customers in a global market that grew 79 percent to $219.1 billion last year. Samsung, which releases several handsets a year using Google Inc. (GOOG)’s Android operating system, was the world’s biggest seller of smartphones in 2011. By contrast, Apple releases only one iPhone a year, resulting in pent-up demand.
AT&T Inc. (T), the largest U.S. phone company, said its customers ordered a record number of the iPhone 5. Subscribers ordered more of the new model than any previous iPhone both on its first day of advance sales and during the weekend, AT&T said in a statement today, without providing details.
With so much demand, production bottlenecks may curb how many iPhones Apple can sell, said Ben Reitzes, an analyst at Barclays Capital Inc. The new touch-screen glass technology for the iPhone 5 is one of the biggest potential sources of supply constraints, he said.
“We still believe Apple is facing significant production constraints,” Reitzes said in note to clients today. Manufacturing delays could postpone some purchases until later this year or early 2013, he said.
From October to December, Apple may sell 50 million iPhones, said Mike Walkley, an analyst at Canaccord Genuity Inc. The new iPhone hits stores this week in the U.S., Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore and the U.K. It goes on sale in 22 more countries on Sept. 28.
“It’s pretty clear there was a lot of pent-up demand for the new phone,” Walkley said in an interview.
To contact the reporters on this story: Ryan Faughnder in New York at rfaughnder@bloomberg.net; Adam Satariano in San Francisco at asatariano1@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Tom Giles at tgiles5@bloomberg.net