Apple’s iPhone 5 has smashed records before hitting the shelves, with more than two million people pre-ordering the smartphone in its first 24 hours, double last year’s figures.
The tech giant warned that many initial orders would not be delivered until October as demand had exceeded “the initial supply”.
However, it added that the majority of orders would still be delivered as planned on Friday morning.
The bumper sales of the iPhone 5 contrast sharply with the sluggish state of the US economy, with the manufacturing sector showing signs of falling back into a slump.
The Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s monthly Empire manufacturing survey yesterday unexpectedly fell to its lowest level since the depths of the recession.
And the August jobs report for the industrial sector shed 15,000 payrolls – the first monthly decline for a year.
Some economists have suggested that consumer spending on the iPhone 5, which accounts for about half of Apple’s revenues, could boost US gross domestic product in the fourth quarter by up to half a percentage point. – Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2012
