December 7, 2023

Within the week previous the iPhone 15 launch, experiences from China detailed the federal government’s purported iPhone ban within the nation. On the identical time, there was elevated speak concerning the resurgence of Huawei. The native smartphone vendor had simply launched the Mate 60 Professional flagship, rocking a homegrown processor.

Some identified {that a} ban in China would hardly influence total iPhone gross sales within the area. It might solely influence these working for the federal government. However paired with Huawei’s renewed willpower to compete on the highest degree after the US ban from a couple of years in the past, the information did spook buyers. Apple shares tanked briefly with the primary experiences of an iPhone ban for presidency workers.

Greater than every week after the iPhone 15 launch, the brand new handsets have been promoting extremely properly, mirroring the worldwide demand for iPhones.

China has denied an iPhone ban because the first experiences got here out. But it surely’s seemingly that even with a ban at governmental ranges, iPhone 15 preorders would have been simply as sturdy within the area.

Apple not shares sale figures for iPhone preorders. Even when it did, it wouldn’t single out China, regardless that it’s one in every of Apple’s most necessary markets. Nonetheless, the South China Morning Submit has particulars concerning the state of iPhone 15 preorders.

Inside the first 10 minutes of iPhone 15 preorders, Apple’s China web site crashed. The handsets had been additionally out there from third-party retailers, together with Alibaba’s Tmall, JD.com, Meituan, and Ele.me.

Apple’s September 2023 iPhone lineup: iPhone SE 3, iPhone 13, iPhone 14, iPhone 15, and iPhone 15 Professional. Picture supply: Apple Inc.

iPhone 15 Professional and 15 Professional Max bought out in a single minute on T-Mall. The shop revealed they needed to replenish the inventory 9 occasions in beneath half-hour. The iPhone 15 Professional Max, which bought out within the US and different worldwide markets final Friday inside an hour, was the quickest to promote out.

JD.com consumers positioned over 3 million preorders on the Apple retailer on the platforms as of Monday, September 18th. The iPhone 15 was the preferred handset on the platform on Tuesday, within the 4,000 and 6,000 yuan value class. The iPhone 14 and 13 had been second and third in that high.

As a reminder, Apple didn’t elevate the $799 price ticket for the bottom iPhone 15 mannequin. As an alternative, the iPhone 15 worldwide costs decreased in Europe in comparison with the iPhone 14 sequence.

Meituan is a meals supply big that partnered with greater than 5,000 approved Apple product retailers in China. It reportedly bought 200 million yuan price of iPhone 15 items within the first half-hour. That’s $27.42 million price of iPhone 15 items.

With an iPhone common promoting value approaching $1,000 ($988), that determine quantities to over 27,000 iPhone 15 items bought within the first half-hour. That’s simply hypothesis from this longtime iPhone consumer, as there’s no telling what the cut up between the 4 fashions was.

Ele.me, an Alibaba platform, partnered with 3,000 Apple retailers. The reseller promised to ship the brand new iPhones to prospects inside half-hour as soon as they are often shipped on September twenty second. It’s unclear what number of iPhone 15 items may need been preordered this manner, nevertheless.

Whereas we gained’t have iPhone 15 gross sales figures for fairly some time, the examples above point out that new iPhones proceed to promote properly in China, regardless of the federal government’s ambiguous messaging relating to a possible ban and regardless of Huawei’s greatest efforts to high the iPhone.