Apple Already Shipping First iPhone 5 Pre-Orders

As fans eagerly await the official retail launch of the iPhone 5 on Friday, Apple has already begun shipping the first round of iPhone 5 pre-orders to early bird customers. 9to5Mac provides shipping confirmations from both FedEx and UPS originating in ZhengZhou, China.

Not all early pre-orders have already shipped, however – other customers, including some who managed to get their orders in within the first 15 minutes – are still not seeing such a confirmation. It’s only a matter of time before all of those early orders are ready to ship out, however.

The iPhone 5 sold out on Apple’s website in less than an hour, and sold out at AT&T and Verizon within 12 hours. Apple issued a statement Friday saying they were “blown away” by the record demand for the new device.