Apple Announces Record-Breaking 4 Million iPhone 4S Sales for Opening Weekend

Today Apple announced that first weekend iPhone 4S sales topped 4 million. After selling 1 million units on day one, sales reached over 4 million worldwide at the end of the weekend.

The iPhone 4S has sold twice as many units as the iPhone 4. Apple reported 1.7 million iPhone 4 sales for launch weekend last year.

Separately, 25 million users are using iOS 5 already. 20 million users have also signed up for iCloud.

“Apple today announced it has sold over four million of its new iPhone® 4S, just three days after its launch on October 14. In addition, more than 25 million customers are already using iOS 5, the world’s most advanced mobile operating system, in the first five days of its release, and more than 20 million customers have signed up for iCloud®, a breakthrough set of free cloud services that automatically and wirelessly store your content in iCloud and push it to all your devices. iPhone 4S is available today in the US, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Japan and the UK, and will be available in 22 more countries on October 28 and more than 70 countries by the end of the year.

“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,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. “iPhone 4S is a hit with customers around the world, and together with iOS 5 and iCloud, is the best iPhone ever.”

All three iPhone partners in the US (AT&T, Verizon, Sprint) have reported great satisfaction on the iPhone 4S launch. Despite initial criticism from the press, consumers have shown great demand for the iPhone 4S, with many people lining up at stores around the world over the weekend to buy Apple’s latest smartphone.

Carriers in the US sold all pre-order stock after the first weekend of availability. Domestic and international shipping estimates for the iPhone 4S have slipped to 1-2 weeks.

Apple will rollout the iPhone 4S on October 28 in Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, Norway, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland. By the end of the year, Apple promises to make the iPhone 4S available in 70 countries on over 100 carriers.