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AT&T announced yesterday that it is receiving record pre-order sales for the Apple iPhone 5.

While AT&T is not disclosing its exact order numbers, the carrier said that orders placed over the weekend made the iPhone 5 the fastest selling iPhone yet.

An AT&T spokesperson told TechRadar:

“There are no specific sales numbers we can provide at this time, however, we set a sales record over the weekend, making [iPhone 5] the fastest-selling iPhone the company has ever offered,”

The carrier said it is still accepting pre-orders for the iPhone 5, though “customers should expect to receive their device in 14-21 business days.”

A record-breaking day

The iPhone 5 is pushing big numbers for Apple too, with the computing giant announcing 2 million pre-orders in just 24 hours.

That sets a new day one sales record for Apple, more than doubling first day pre-orders for the iPhone 4S.

There was no doubting that the iPhone 5 was going to be a success, given the amount of pre-release hype the rumour mill offers up for the phone, but even by Apple’s standards the pre-order haul is impressive.

According to the computing giant, Apple will ship the majority of pre-orders on September 21 when the phone is officially on sale but there will be some orders that will fall into October.

Given the Apple Store changed its tune within a few hours of the iPhone 5 being available to shipping the handset ‘in two to three weeks’ this isn’t really a surprise.

The news led to Apple stock prices jumping today, reaching $699.94 at their height before settling back to around $695 per share.

AT&T will join Apple Stores in opening at 8am on September 21 to serve the flood of early adopters, the first of whom may already be lining up as you read this.

Here’s some more articles you might like:

• Apple iPhone 5: 10 things you need to know
• Apple iPhone 5 Early Hands-on Expert Review
• Apple iPhone 5 vs Samsung Galaxy S3: Specs showdown
• Introducing Apple iOS 6: Everything you need to know
• Eight Apple Products Rumored For This Year