iPhone 5 sales top five million over first weekend

Apple has today issued a press release announcing that over five million iPhone 5 units were sold during the first weekend of its availability. By way of comparison, over four million iPhone 4S units were sold over the same period of time last year.

In addition, Apple today also announced that over 100 million devices have already been updated to iOS 6 since it was made available to the public last Wednesday, the 19th of September.

From the press release:

Demand for iPhone 5 has been incredible and we are working hard to get an iPhone 5 into the hands of every customer who wants one as quickly as possible,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “While we have sold out of our initial supply, stores continue to receive iPhone 5 shipments regularly and customers can continue to order online and receive an estimated delivery date. We appreciate everyone’s patience and are working hard to build enough iPhone 5s for everyone.

With pre-orders for the iPhone 5 setting new records for the company, opening weekend sales were always going to be impressive. However, they are a little short of the 6-10 million units predicted by some analysts.

The iPhone 5 launched last Friday in the UK, US, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, and Singapore. It will go on sale in a further 22 countries next Friday, and in more than 100 countries before the end of 2012.