iPhone

iPhone 5 sends Apple juggernaut into overdrive

Apple's new iPhone 5 has already smashed sales records, sending the technology group’s shares to new highs and confounding criticism from those who were underwhelmed by the device.

"Although more consumers are opting for the pre-order method around new Apple product launches, we still expect long lines at stores this Friday," said Brian White, an anlyst at Topeka Capital Markets.

Shares in Apple touched a fresh high of $698.62 as they closed in on $700 mark . They have soared 70pc this year, punishing those who believed that a company that was close to bankruptcy in the late 1990s could not sustain its growth. With a value of $650bn it is now comfortably the world’s biggest company.

Although some investors warn Apple’s own success will eventually make it a victim of the 'law of big numbers’ – meaning it is harder to produce growth from a larger initial base – for now competitors are doing what they can to burst the iPhone 5 frenzy.

South Korea’s Samsung, Apple’s chief rival and the world’s biggest seller of smartphones, ran a series of adverts in US newspapers last weekend titled 'It doesn’t take a genius’ comparing the iPhone 5 to its own Galaxy S III.

The greatest hope for rivals may come from the pressure that demand for the device will exert on Apple’s global supply chain. Concern over supply has risen because the iPhone 5 is the biggest overhaul of the device in more than two years.