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Smuggled iPhone 5s are pricey but sold out
Source: Agencies |
September 22, 2012, Saturday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
IT took little more than five hours for the first Apple iPhone 5s to go on sale on the Chinese mainland after being smuggled across the border from Hong Kong, but supplies were short and prices high.
In a crowded building in Shenzhen, south China's Guangdong Province, a salesman stood by as shoppers scrambled to take photos of three shiny new iPhones on display in his glass cabinet.
"The stock is so limited that people are treating these iPhone 5s like gems," said another salesman, surnamed Lin. "I pre-ordered online and got quite a few people to do the same but I could only get a few."
New Apple products are typically rolled out later on the mainland than in Hong Kong, creating a thriving "grey market" for enterprising traders. According to media reports, the iPhone 5 is expected to go on sales on the mainland soon.
Vendors such as Lin also make a year-round living exploiting the price difference between Apple and other popular brands in Hong Kong, a free port near Shenzhen with zero-duty on many electronics imports, and on the Chinese mainland.
At the iPhone 5's debut in Hong Kong earlier in the day, small groups of people carrying rucksacks filled with cash waited outside the city's flagship store hoping to snap up phones for resale.
For anyone able to secure one, the new phone cost HK$5,588 (US$720), or the equivalent of around 4,545 yuan, at the Hong Kong Apple store, while they were selling for between 7,500 yuan and 9,000 yuan in the litter-strewn building in Shenzhen where fake and smuggled phones are often hawked.
In a crowded building in Shenzhen, south China's Guangdong Province, a salesman stood by as shoppers scrambled to take photos of three shiny new iPhones on display in his glass cabinet.
"The stock is so limited that people are treating these iPhone 5s like gems," said another salesman, surnamed Lin. "I pre-ordered online and got quite a few people to do the same but I could only get a few."
New Apple products are typically rolled out later on the mainland than in Hong Kong, creating a thriving "grey market" for enterprising traders. According to media reports, the iPhone 5 is expected to go on sales on the mainland soon.
Vendors such as Lin also make a year-round living exploiting the price difference between Apple and other popular brands in Hong Kong, a free port near Shenzhen with zero-duty on many electronics imports, and on the Chinese mainland.
At the iPhone 5's debut in Hong Kong earlier in the day, small groups of people carrying rucksacks filled with cash waited outside the city's flagship store hoping to snap up phones for resale.
For anyone able to secure one, the new phone cost HK$5,588 (US$720), or the equivalent of around 4,545 yuan, at the Hong Kong Apple store, while they were selling for between 7,500 yuan and 9,000 yuan in the litter-strewn building in Shenzhen where fake and smuggled phones are often hawked.
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