Analysts and number crunchers had been speculating over this, but now it’s official: Apple sold a whopping one million iPhone 3G handsets in its first weekend.

Just three days after its launch on Friday, Apple says it’s shifted one million phones across the 21 countries that have it on sale.

“iPhone 3G had a stunning opening weekend,” said Apple CEO Steve Jobs. “It took 74 days to sell the first one million original iPhones, so the new iPhone 3G is clearly off to a great start around the world.”

The success comes in spite of some launch-day hiccups, with iPhone activation problems hampering some new owners, as well as delays in the UK thanks to swamped credit-checking systems.

Out now | From £free | Apple