Home
Mobiles
Mobiles News
iPhone 6 Launch Delay in China Gives Smugglers Reason to Cheer

iPhone 6 Launch Delay in China Gives Smugglers Reason to Cheer

By Reuters | Updated: 23 September 2014 16:01 IST

The likely delayed launch of Apple Inc's new iPhone 6 in China, the world's biggest smartphone market, sparked a race to pre-order the phone in Hong Kong on Friday.

Pre-orders for the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus sold out within two hours on Apple's Hong Kong website - and many of those devices will be smuggled across the border into mainland China, where they could change hands for as much as four times the Hong Kong price.

The new models go on sale in the United States, Hong Kong and other markets on September 19, but China is still waiting for a release date.

Hong Kong residents went online to pre-order iPhones in the hope of selling them on for a tidy profit to unofficial dealers, many of whom will then move them into China to cash in on pent-up demand there.

Apple did not release the number of sales for pre-orders.

"I'm worried about getting enough iPhones to resell. Orders have doubled compared to last year," said Gary Yiu, a salesperson at I Generation in Sin Tat Plaza in Mong Kok, Hong Kong's electronics hub.

His store offers HKD 10,000 ($1,290) for those willing to re-sell the latest model, almost twice the official local price of HKD 5,588. Yiu said he received more than 100 orders from Hong Kong and mainland China, double the number he had a year ago when Apple launched the iPhone 5s.

There are about 100 electronics dealers in Sin Tat Plaza and each bought 150-200 handsets immediately after the official release of the iPhone 5s last year.

In Shenzhen, across the Chinese border from Hong Kong, the asking price for the cheapest iPhone 6 model hit 20,000 CNY ($3,260), while a salesperson at a telecoms shop in Shanghai said his company had sent staff to Hong Kong, Japan and even the United States to buy the new models and get them back to China for sale.

(Also See: Apple Hopes Secret Sauce Can Reshape Markets)

"It's tough to say right now what price we'll ask. It really depends on market sentiment. It'll be decided by the asking price in the market," said the man surnamed Zhang.

Typically, student 'mules' from Hong Kong carry iPhones in their schoolbags or strap them around their waists and ankles each time they cross the border to the mainland. Some web users in China shared tips on how to smuggle iPhones into the country - such as opening the packaging so, if stopped, carriers can claim the phone was bought for their own use.

Others in Hong Kong were still weighing whether to resell their newest iPhone after securing a pre-order.

"It's all about luck," said information technology officer Danny Lam, 28. "I kept refreshing. My F5 button almost broke."

"I may give it to my sister. I don't need this urgently, so I may check the price with traders. If the price is good, of course I'll sell it."

© Thomson Reuters 2014

Apple iPhone 6 Plus

REVIEW
KEY SPECS
NEWS
Variants

Design
Display
Software
Performance
Battery Life
Camera
Value for Money

Good
Fantastic performance
Very good battery life
Excellent camera

Bad
Large and awkward to use
Lacks software optimisations

Read detailed Apple iPhone 6 Plus review

Display 5.50-inch

Processor Apple A8

Front Camera 1.2-megapixel

Rear Camera 8-megapixel

RAM 1GB

Storage 16GB

Battery Capacity 2915mAh

OS iOS 8.0

Resolution 1080x1920 pixels

More Apple mobiles Apple mobiles price in India

Choose a variant

Apple iPhone 6

REVIEW
KEY SPECS
NEWS
Variants

Design
Display
Software
Performance
Battery Life
Camera
Value for Money

Good
Thin, light, easy to handle
Excellent camera
Superb performance
Reasonably good battery life

Bad
Limited storage

Read detailed Apple iPhone 6 review

Display 4.70-inch

Processor Apple A8

Front Camera 1.2-megapixel

Rear Camera 8-megapixel

RAM 1GB

Storage 16GB

Battery Capacity 1810mAh

OS iOS 8.0

Resolution 750x1334 pixels

More Apple mobiles Apple mobiles price in India

Choose a variant

Comments

For the latest tech news and reviews, follow Gadgets 360 on X, Facebook, WhatsApp, Threads and Google News. For the latest videos on gadgets and tech, subscribe to our YouTube channel. If you want to know everything about top influencers, follow our in-house Who'sThat360 on Instagram and YouTube.