iPhone 4S sales cross 4 million on first weekend

Even before day 4 of sales began, Apple had sold over 4 million pieces of the iPhone 4S. The phone retailed on Friday, October 14 and fans flocked to stores to grab their devices all over the US, UK, Canada, France, Australia, Germany and Japan. The phone will launch in 28 countries by the end of the month and another 70 by the end of the year.

In the US, Apple had increased the number of carriers who offer the iPhone 4s with their cellular network plans. This has greatly helped sales. In fact, the iPhone 4S has beaten its predecessor by over 2 million. The iPhone 4 had sold 1.7 million units within the first 3 days of its launch in June last year. 

According to Apple, apart from the iPhone 4S, 25 million users are using the iOS 5 within 5 days of its release on October 12. iOS 5 is available to users of iPod Touch, iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPad and iPad 2. iCloud users are not far behind with 20 million people opting for Apple’s new service that allows users to store their content wirelessly and push it to all of their Apple devices.

Said Philip Schiller at the Apple press release, “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 3 days. iPhone 4S is a hit with customers around the world, and together with iOS 5 and iCloud is the best iPhone ever.”

From the looks of it, Apple has already conquered the smartphone market and has consolidated its position as its leader for a very long time to come. With the rumoured launches of the Motorola Razr and the Samsung Galaxy Nexus just around the corner, it will be interesting to see how the competition fares in the days to come.