Apple said it has sold over 1.7 million iPhone 4’s in the three days since it went on sale.
Apple chief executive Steve Jobs said the iPhone 4’s debut was the “most successful product launch in Apple’s history.”
In contrast, Apple sold just 1 million iPhone 3GS smartphones within the first three days of its release last year.
The iPhone 4 went on sale in the US, UK, France, Germany and Japan on Thursday, but many stores have run out of stock.
Apple has given no indication when iPhone 4 supplies might catch up.
Rodman & Renshaw analyst Ashok Kumar has previously estimated the firm needs to produce around 4 million units per month to hit target - and cautioned that it will miss due to a shortage of Retina displays.
In the US, AT&T and Apple opened pre-orders June 15, but sold all 600,000 iPhone 4’s in stock by the end of the day.