Apple announced Monday it sold more than four million iPhone 4S smartphones in its first three days, a big jump compared to iPhone 4 sales last week.
"iPhone 4S is off to a great start with more than four million sold in its first weekend—the most ever for a phone and more than double the iPhone 4 launch during its first three days," Philip Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing, said in a statement. "iPhone 4S is a hit with customers around the world, and together with iOS 5 and iCloud, is the best iPhone ever."
In comparison, Apple sold 1.7 million iPhone 4's in the first three days of its launch in June 2010, and "more than a million" iPhone 3GS's during opening weekend in 2009. Apple hasn't released a breakdown, but analyst Gene Munster of Piper Jaffray speculated that the bulk of iPhone 4S sales came from those upgrading from an iPhone 3GS or older.
Apple also announced that 25 million people have downloaded iOS 5 and 20 million have joined iCloud, a brand-new service that lets you store your emails, music files, videos, and more on an Apple-controlled remote server, and access the data from any other device with iCloud support. For more see Hands On With Apple iCloud and Optimize iCloud for iPhone in 6 Simple Steps.
When iOS 5, a 778.4MB download, was released last Wednesday, it hosed Apple's systems and caused long wait times for many users, as well as cancelled updates. In the UK, iOS 5 downloads apparently created the highest ever Internet traffic spike in the country.
Apple's iOS 5 is available now for the iPhone 3GS and 4 and comes pre-loaded on the iPhone 4S. For more, see PCMag's full review of iOS 5 and an overview of its top 10 best features, as well as How to Get Apple's iOS 5.
"Clearly, this is a stronger launch then the market had originally anticipated and our checks indicate that certain Apple stores were already out of iPhone 4S stock last night," Brian White, an analyst at Ticonderoga Securities, wrote in a Monday note to clients.
On Friday, Sprint said the iPhone 4S helped it achieve "its best ever day of sales," while AT&T also reported "record activations."
Expect more details tomorrow, when Apple will announce its quarterly results.
For more, see PCMag's full review of the iPhone 4S and the slideshow below.