Beijing shops asking 20,000 yuan for iPhone 6 as Apple waits on permit
Devices have yet to officially go on sale on the mainland, but vendors in Beijing are already selling models they say are real at massive mark-ups
Apple's iPhone 6 has yet to be approved for sale by mainland authorities, but vendors in Beijing are already selling what they claim to be genuine models for more than 20,000 yuan (HK$25,200).
The phones have received regulatory approval for use on domestic frequencies, but still required one more licence before Apple or mainland telecoms players could sell the device, Xinhua reported yesterday.
Apple has not said when the smartphone will be released on the mainland, one of its biggest markets. The delay has triggered speculation the technology giant has run into difficulty getting permits from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, which tests phones before they can be used on telecoms networks.
Apple still needed to obtain a network access licence, Xinhua said.
The company has not issued any comment about the mainland launch apart from saying it was working to bring the device to the market as soon as possible.
However, state media have reported dealers in Beijing claim to have already sold out of the model at a huge markup.
Sellers in the Zhongguancun district of Beijing, the city's main centre for buying computers and phones, said they had sold out within two days, at an average price of 14,000 yuan, China News Services reported.