Following the rapid sell-out of pre-orders for the iPhone 5 recently, Apple has now released the official figures showing that over two million pre-orders were received on the first day of availability.

Apple’s senior VP of worldwide marketing, Philip Schiller, says: “iPhone 5 pre-orders have shattered the previous record held by iPhone 4S, and the customer response to iPhone 5 has been phenomenal.”

The iPhone 5 features a four-inch Retina display, an A6 chip, LTE support and a new thinner, lighter design. According to Apple, some will only be delivered in October as demand for the handset has exceeded the initial supply.

In a new research note, Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster has said based on the strong pre-order numbers, he predicts Apple will achieve sales of between six million and 10 million units during the opening weekend. The iPhone 4S sold four million units during its first weekend of sales.

Arguably the iPhone 5’s biggest competition, the Samsung Galaxy S3, sold 10 million units in two months, after its launch earlier this year.