New iPhones to go on sale on mainland at midnight
Reservations and pre-orders likely to make up large percentage of first-day buyers of 6 and 6 Plus models
Apple’s new iPhones will go on sale on the mainland starting at midnight amid signs of strong demand, as some reports claimed more than 20 million have been pre-ordered.
The devices, which went on sale about a month ago in the first roll-out in nine global locations, including Hong Kong, will be available in the mainland’s Apple retail stores, at the three mobile carriers and various other authorised sellers.
The carriers would likely see high demands for the sale of iPhones bundled with their data plans, Shanghai-based The Paper reported today citing industry experts. While China Unicom and China Telecom offered phones that could be used on all carriers, China Mobile offered slightly cheaper phones that could only be used on its network on a contract, it said.
More than 20 million iPhone 6 and the 6 Plus models have been ordered through Apple’s online store, the mobile carriers and e-commerce giant Jingdong since pre-order became available on Friday, Tencent news portal reported citing industry estimates.
JD.com says on its website it received 4.6 million orders for the iPhone 6 and slightly more for the bigger 6 Plus.
An Apple staff member in Sanlitun in Beijing said it expected overwhelming demand for the new phones in its retail store tomorrow, though most of the people would likely be those who have made reservations or pre-ordered online.
“If you come without having made a reservation or a pre-order, you will likely have to queue up for a long time,” she said.