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A frenzy of Chinese trying to buy iPhones
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THE release of iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 plus last week has set off the usual frenzy among Apple fans worldwide, but Chinese scalpers have been especially aggressive, reportedly inundating stores in several countries.
With China’s mainland being excluded from the first- and second-round release dates, a great money-making chance for purchasing agents and the ubiquitous Chinese scalpers has been created.
The bonanza may not last long, as Chinese officials announced that Apple’s application to sell the iPhone 6 and iPhone6 plus on the mainland is entering its final phase. Nevertheless, gray-market phone sellers are optimistic about another increase in price during the National Day holiday that starts next Wednesday.
Chinese customers have reportedly crashed Apple stores in Hong Kong, the US, Australia, Japan and Canada since September 19, when the new iPhones were released. Hundreds of Chinese were witnessed waiting outside an Apple store on the night of September 18 in Melbourne, Australia; some of them even played mahjong to kill time while waiting.
An hour of chaos ensued in an Apple store in Osaka, Japan, on September 19, when many Chinese customers failed to get their iPhone 6 or iPhone 6 plus after they sold out by 4pm. According to Japanese police, many customers complained about flying all the way from China to wait 24 hours and get nothing. Luckily, nobody got hurt.
Two groups of Chinese scalpers got into a fight outside an Apple store in New Haven, Connecticut, in the US, on September 22. The melee was caused by a dispute over whether one group had jumped the queue. One man was hurt in the forehead, while three men were arrested.
Chinese-Australian Silvia Li, who works in Sydney, says she is witnessing long queues outside the Apple stores almost every day since the official release.
“The official release started at 8:30am, yet there were more than 100 people waiting outside the store by 6pm the night before,” says Li. “It was crazy.”
Some of her friends who made an online reservation in advance spent about four hours getting their phones on the first day of release. The crazy wait lines have kept up ever since.
Most of the people “camping out” on September 18 seemed to be overseas Chinese students, according to Li. They were fully prepared with tents, folding chairs and playing cards.
She was surprised once to see an old Chinese lady with a stick waiting just like others.
“I don’t think most of the people were purchasing for themselves, as most of the natives I know would chose online reservation or contract phones,” says Li.
Sarah Sun, who lives in Tokyo, planned to help her friends in Shanghai getting new iPhones. Nine friends made requests on the first day she offered her kindness. However, she only got two by online reservation, as the Apple store stopped approving her purchases because she booked too many with the same address.
The huge profit that can be earned from bringing iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 plus to China’s mainland before the products are available in stores is the major drive for scalpers. Eager to get the new product in hand, many Chinese Apple fans are willing to pay much higher prices.
Shanghai Daily found prices for the new models on Taobao.com ranging from 7,000 yuan (US$1,166.67) to 18,999 yuan.
Sophie Lin, who runs a digital product counter at a department store in Shanghai, says that most new models sold there came from Hong Kong and are sold for at least 9,000 yuan. That compares with the official price for iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 plus ranging from 4,427 to 6,408 yuan in Hong Kong.
Lin says that a customer purchased a 5.5-inch iPhone 6 plus in Shanghai for 27,000 yuan shortly after it was released in Hong Kong.
“It is just common when the rich want something new and want it now,” she says. “Few buyers challenged the price as they knew that there were cost and risk importing the products in.”
Li in Australia says she heard the first two seats for waiting customers outside the Apple store in Sydney were sold at exorbitant prices.
A recent announcement from China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology declaring that Apple’s application to sell in China’s mainland is close to being approved will shorten the scalpers’ golden days.
Prices of unauthorized iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 plus, in fact, have already dropped in the past week, according to China News Service. The price of a 128G iPhone 6 plus plummeted from 30,000 yuan to 11,000 yuan in Beijing, while that for 16G iPhone 6 fell from 8,000 yuan to about 6,000 yuan.
Some scalpers cut their prices after buying too many phones, concerned about losing money when they can no longer sell them out at relatively high prices.
But Lin says while prices did drop somewhat in recent days, it is still too early to project a huge drop.
“After all, entering the last phase does not necessarily mean that the phones will be available in the market tomorrow,” she says. “There are still people who want their hands on iPhone 6 as soon as possible.”
And she expects at least a small price increase on the coming weeklong National Day holiday during which a selling peak always arrives.
“The price may drop by 2,000 to 3,000 yuan if the application is approved after the National Day, but it may still keep there if not. Who knows?” says Lin.
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