Apple's October 17, 2011 newsroom post states a number: over four million iPhone 4S units moved in the first three days after the October 14 launch. The page is a vendor release, not a desk report, so the figure is Apple's own count, not an independent tally. Philip Schiller, named in the release as senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing, calls it "the most ever for a phone" and says it is more than double the iPhone 4's first-three-day figure. The release also notes that iPhone 4 drops to $99 and iPhone 3GS goes free with a two-year contract, which is the trade-in ladder that made the $199 entry price possible.

The table below carries the figures the page states. What it does not prove is the A5's clock speed, its process node, or the foundry that fabricated it. The release names "dual-core A5" and "full 1080p HD resolution video recording" but gives no TDP, no die area, no sensor pixel count for the "all new camera with advanced optics." The 64GB tier at $399 is the first Apple phone storage class above 32GB, but the page does not say whether that tier uses a different NAND supplier or a different package. The release lists the sales channels - Apple Online Store, retail stores, AT&T, Sprint, Verizon, select Best Buy, Target, and Walmart - but does not break out units by channel.

Die Brief's read: the buyer is constrained by the two-year rate plan, and the carrier is the one absorbing the hardware delta between the $199 16GB unit and whatever the BOM actually costs. Apple's own pricing structure - $199, $299, $399 - is a subsidy ladder, not a cost-plus margin. The fab constraint the page leaves open is the A5's process node. That matters for the thermal envelope of a phone that is also recording 1080p video continuously. The 25 million iOS 5 users and 20 million iCloud sign-ups in the first five days suggest the software stack was the actual selling point, not the silicon.

The page lists seven launch markets - US, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, UK - and names 22 additional countries for October 28, with "more than 70" by year's end. The exact country list beyond those 22 is not in the document. The exact unit count, the exact iOS 5 user count, and the exact iCloud sign-up count are all stated as "over" a round number. No page in the packet gives the precise figure. The release does not state the A5's clock speed, the camera sensor resolution, or the battery capacity, which means the thermal and endurance picture for sustained 1080p recording remains unmeasured.

The buyer is locked to a two-year carrier plan, and the $199 entry price is a subsidy, not a margin. The A5's process node is the one figure the release withholds, and it determines the thermal headroom for sustained 1080p recording.

The exact unit count, the exact iOS 5 user total, the A5's process node, and the camera sensor resolution are not stated in the document.

The 64GB tier introduces a new NAND package class to the iPhone line, but the release does not name the supplier or the die size. The A5's node - 45nm or 32nm - is unstated, which leaves the thermal budget for the 1080p video pipeline undefined.