Apple's long-awaited iPhone 5 smartphone has set a record in terms of pre-orders even before it has hit local stores.

Apple said on Monday that over 2 million units of the handset were sold last Friday alone, when online pre-orders began. This is double the rate of early interest shown in its predecessor, the iPhone 4S, which recorded 1 million pre-orders on the first day it was made available late last year.

People wait in line to buy the iPhone 5 outside an Apple store in New York's Fifth Avenue on Monday (local time). /AFP-Yonhap

Due to the influx of orders, deliveries may be delayed until after Friday, Apple said.

The U.S. tech giant began receiving pre-orders at the end of last week in nine countries including the U.S., the U.K. and France. In the U.S., the iPhone 5 will be available at stores starting from this Friday, but customers have already started lining up outside Apple stores in New York to get their hands on one.

Canaccord Genuity, a U.S. investment firm, forecast that the iPhone 5 will hit sales of 10 million within 15 days of its release.