The iPhone 5 is here, and long lines of customers in front of Apple stores were ubiquitous around the world on the release day.

Australia kicked off the iPhone 5 cult movement, followed by Japan, Hong Kong, and Singapore. iPhone fans competed to be the first on the lines, and many camped outside the Apple stores while enjoying the hype.

iPhone 5 lines in Sydney, Tokyo

In Sydney, the very first person to own the new smartphone claimed his spot in the line as early as Tuesday. 24-year-old Todd Foot kept his position by sitting on a folding chair for an average of 18 hours a day, the New York Daily News reports.

Like Us on Facebook

In Tokyo, some customers were seen sporting cardboard hats of the iPhone 5, as if to prove the omnipotence of Apple empire.

iPhone 5 line in Tokyo
 

The much-anticipated iPhone 5 is released in U.S., UK, Canada, France and Germany on Friday, and 22 more countries will follow a week later.

In New York and San Francisco Bay Area stores, 200 people are expected to hold places in line for strangers for the iPhone 5, according to Bloomberg.
The line holders are paid through TaskRabbit for their waiting time.

At New York City's flagship Apple Store, the first ones on line began camping there as early as Friday.

With its pre-order starting on Sept. 14, the iPhone 5 has already broken record with over 2 million smartphones ordered in the first 24 hours.
"iPhone 5 pre-orders have shattered the previous record held by iPhone 4S and the customer response to iPhone 5 has been phenomenal," Philip Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing, said.

The overwhelming demand exceeded the initial supply, according to Apple, leading many of the orders toward October delivery.
Both Apple and the iPhone 5 carriers have pushed back the shipment dates for several weeks.

Apple is expected to ship as many as 10 million iPhone 5 by the end of September, according to Analysts.

The iPhone 5 dubbed an "absolute jewel"

The iPhone 5 was unveiled on Sept. 12 at a press event in San Francisco. Apple's new CEO Tim Cook called the iPhone 5 an "absolute jewel."

“It’s an absolute jewel ... Made entirely of glass and aluminum, designed and built to a standard unlike any in the industry," Cook said.

The iPhone 5 sports a slightly bigger 4-inch screen with a Retina Display. The bigger screen gives room to an additional fifth row of icons.

The phones' body is made of aluminum and glass, making the smartphone 18 per cent thinner and 20 per cent lighter than the iPhone 4S.

The iPhone 5 will be powered by a faster A6 processor, and run on 4G LTE networks, making it faster to brows the web.

New features include camera's panorama function, which allows users to vertically sweep the iPhone screen to take a 28-megapixel image.

Improvements are made in video's stabilization, enhanced battery life, and 44% more color saturation for showing movies.

Apple's new "wideband" audio promises clearer sound during phone calls.

Safari is also enhanced with a full-screen view, and users can now share tabs from desktop to phone via iCloud Tabs.

The iPhone 5 comes with two colors, black and white, and its prices range from $199 for a 16GB, $299 for a 32 GB, to $399 for a 64 GB with a two-year contract.