iPhone 5 goes on sale around the world

From London to New York and to Sydney, fans have camped outside Apple stores as the iPhone 5 went on sale around the world today.

As Apple opened the doors of its stores around the world, staff greeted the first customers with high fives and cheers.

The dozens of die-hard Apple fans had swollen into huge queues of hundreds by the early hours of Friday morning, as excitement reached fever pitch hours before the release of the updated handset.

The latest Apple gadget became available from 8:00 a.m., as hundreds were cheered into the brand’s store in Covent Garden, central London.

Apple store workers dressed in blue T-shirts formed a passageway and high-fived customers who had been waiting outside the shop for up to a week.

The phone is already guaranteed to be a best-seller, with the company reporting pre-orders around the world of two million in just 24 hours and many customers not expected to receive theirs until October.

IT businessman Ryan Williams was the first person in the queue and said the atmosphere as he picked up the phone was “crazy”.

Ryan Williams, 22, from Swanley in Kent, had been camping out in Covent Garden for a week with his friend Peter King.

The frontrunners for the gadget had been queuing for days and despite a cold snap last night, said the enjoyed sitting with their mates knowing they are going to make “more than a weeks wages” for their troubles.

In the UK the iPhone 5 went on sale at 8:00 a.m. for between £529 ($830) and £699 ($1,100).

Richard Wheatcroft, 30, owner of crowdfuelledcauses.com, said when they get the phones, they will probably sell them on eBay if they cannot get an offer on their spaces.

While industry experts have suggested that android phones like the Samsung S3 now match the iPhone, Apple fans in the queue at 1:00 a.m. on Friday morning still had faith in the iconic product.