iPhone 4S sales could hit 4 million over weekend as Apple stock hits new high

It looks like it’s been a good day for Apple as far as sales of its new iPhone 4S go. US mobile carrier Sprint reported record one-day sales for Friday, the day the new phone was launched. And AT&T said it had broken the record for the number of iPhone activations in a single day.

Friday’s global launch of Apple’s new smartphone had fans lining up outside Apple stores around the world. Any talk of the iPhone 4S being a disappointment – when an iPhone 5 had been hotly anticipated at Apple’s unveiling event on October 4 – appeared to melt away.

The signs were good last weekend when the 4S became available for pre-order. A million were sold in the first 24 hours, breaking more records for the Cupertino company.

And now, according to a Bloomberg report, Yankee Group analyst Carl Howe is predicting that sales of the 4S could hit 4 million in its first weekend alone. Such a figure would make last year’s opening weekend sales of the iPhone 4 (1.7 million units) look somewhat unimpressive. And that was a record for the company at the time.

The new iPhone 4S improves on the iPhone 4 in several areas, with changes coming under the hood rather than with its physical design. It comes with, for example, a faster processor and better camera, together with the largely well-received Siri software, best described as a voice-activated personal assistant.

The icing on Apple’s smartphone cake came at the close of trading in New York on Friday when shares in the company hit a new high of $422. That’s a healthy gain of 14 percent over the last seven days.

The past week hasn’t all been plain sailing for the computer giant though. The massive demand for its latest mobile operating system iOS 5, released on Wednesday, caused many users to experience problems updating their iPhones, iPads and iPod touches.

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