Ahead of the Bell: New Apple iPhone

NEW YORK (AP) — Advance orders for the new iPhone begin Friday.

The phones won’t be shipped or available for pickup until next Friday, though. It’s initially available in the U.S. and eight other countries.

In the U.S., it will be available through Apple’s online and retail stores, AT&T, Sprint and Verizon Wireless and some Apple resellers.

Announced Wednesday, the iPhone 5 is bigger, but lighter than previous models. It will also work with faster cellular networks known as 4G LTE.

The bigger screen — 4 inches measured diagonally — creates room for another row of icons on the screen and lets widescreen movies fit better. The calendar will now show five days at a time instead of just three. Previous iPhone models carried 3.5-inch screens.

Apple typically discloses sales figures after reaching certain milestones days later. Analysts are expecting Apple to sell tens of millions of phones before the year is out, including perhaps as many as 10 million during the last 10 days of this month.