Apple announced on Monday that preorders for its latest smartphone iPhone 5 topped 2 million in the first 24 hours, doubling the record set by the previous model iPhone 4S.

"iPhone 5 preorders have shattered the previous record held by iPhone 4S and the customer response to iPhone 5 has been phenomenal," said Philip Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of worldwide marketing, in a statement.

Since demand for iPhone 5 exceeds the initial supply, many preordered phones will not be shipped until October, said the company. It added that majority of preorders will still be delivered to customers on Sept. 21, the official launch day.

The iPhone 5, Apple's sixth-generation smartphone, was unveiled on Wednesday, featuring bigger display and support for faster LTE wireless network.

Preorders started at midnight Pacific Time Friday (0700 GMT Saturday). It took only about 60 minutes for Apple to sell out its preorder stock for the launch day, while it took 22 hours for the iPhone 4S and around 20 hours for the iPhone 4.