Following the opening of pre-orders for the new iPhone 4S on October 7, Apple has today announced it has sold over 1 million units of its new smartphone in 24 hours, smashing its previous single day pre-order record held by the iPhone 4, with 600,000 units.

Customers in the U.S, Canada, Australia, the UK, France, Germany, and Japan were able to preorder the device, with mobile operators in the respective countries also opening up preorders on October 7. The iPhone 4S will ship on October 14, with general sales also beginning on that date.

U.S mobile operator AT&T released a statement on Friday, detailing the huge demand for the new iPhone on its network:

“AT&T has seen extraordinary demand for iPhone 4S with more than 200,000 preorders in the first 12 hours alone, the most successful iPhone launch we’ve ever had.”

Apple’s latest addition to the iPhone product cycle comes with the company’s new A5 processor, 1GB RAM, 8-megapixel camera capable of shooting 1080p HD video and a raft of software improvements. With Apple’s new iOS 5, launching on October 12, users will can take advantage of Apple’s new iCloud service, which wirelessly stores all of your important data and media in the cloud, boasts improved notifications, iMessage and over 200 new features.

It will also include Siri, Apple’s powerful new voice-activated virtual assistant, that can schedule appointments, update you on your stocks or the weather, even mapping out directions for your journey, all by speaking into your new iPhone handset.

Apple has said that it will open orders in 22 more countries on October 28, making the iPhone 4S available in Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, Norway, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland – with the handset available in more than 70 countries by the end of the year.