Chinese iPhone accessory sellers ahead of the game

This week, Apple unveiled its iPhone 6 and larger iPhone 6 Plus, but at factories in the mainland hub of Guangdong production of cases and other accessories for the phones started three months ago.

Reading Time:1 minute

Companies selling iPhone cases had advance notice of the new products' dimensions. Photo: SCMP Pictures

Published: 6:00am, 12 Sep 2014Updated: 10:09am, 12 Sep 2014

This week, Apple unveiled its iPhone 6 and larger iPhone 6 Plus, but at factories in the mainland hub of Guangdong production of cases and other accessories for the phones started three months ago.

Details about the company's new products, supposedly confidential before their official launch, have been more frequently and accurately disclosed in recent years.

David Chan, a sales manager at Guangzhou-based mobile phone case supplier SLT Communication Equipment, said the company would traditionally start selling cases for the latest iPhones several months before their release, and would offer free replacements if the products did not fit the phones.

"For the iPhone 4 we suffered quite a loss because Apple did well in maintaining secrecy, but for iPhone 5 and 6 there was no such problem," said Chan.

Accessories for the iPhone 6 have already flooded China's largest online marketplace, Taobao.com. All sellers the South China Morning Post approached promised their products would precisely fit new iPhones.

"We have tried them out with a real iPhone 6. We specialise in this industry, so we definitely have a way to get the information," said Qing Xiangying, owner of a mobile phone accessory shop in Shenzhen.