iPhone 4S doubles iPhone 4 sales

Apple on Monday revealed that the iPhone 4S had reached over four million sales in just its first weekend. The results were more than twice as many as for the earlier iPhone 4 during a similar span of time, Senior VP Phil Schiller said. He added that it was the "most ever for a phone," setting an industry record.

Over 25 million people have downloaded iOS 5 since it became available on October 12, Apple added.

The result was helped along by having one of Apple's largest first-wave iPhone launches. Along with including Australia, Canada, Japan, and key European countries, it also reached major carriers that haven't been available in the past for a genuinely new iPhone launch, such as Sprint and Verizon in the US as well as KDDI Au in Japan.

Its performance also puts Samsung's repeated public milestone claims in context. The Galaxy S II took 55 days to hit three million and only just hit 10 million in late September. While Apple's sales rate will slow down, it will have reached a similar goal more than 18 times faster.

Samsung may have hurt itself by its typical gradual approach to releases, where it often starts just in its home country of Korea or in Europe and takes months to go elsewhere. The Galaxy S II didn't reach the US until mid-September with the Epic 4G Touch, which shipped nearly five months after the original version became available.

By Electronista Staff

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