Analyst Expects iPhone 5 Sales Will Hit 8 Million Units In Opening Weekend

Following Apple announcement made earlier today that it  received two million pre-orders for new iPhone in the first day of its availability, analyst from Piper Jaffray Gene Munster has issued a new research note forecasting that Apple will sale from 6 to 10 million units during the launch weekend. He bases his estimates on impressive pre-order numbers and comparison with last year’s pre-orders for the iPhone 4S. He noted:

“Given the 2 million pre-orders, we remain confident that Apple can deliver 8 million (range of 6-10 million) iPhones in the launch weekend. The reason we are confident in the 8 million is two-fold. First, initial 24 hour pre-orders for the iPhone 5 were up 100% y/y from the iPhone 4S. Last year, pre-orders accounted for 25% of total weekend launch unit sales”.

iPhone 4S pre-orders in the first 24 hours topped one million units last year and that number translated into more than four million iPhones sold in the opening weekend.