The release of the new iPhone 12 and 12 Pro was met with excitement at least in the rest of the world even in China as the device has gone on sale earlier on Friday after early pre-order data showed strong consumer interest in the 5G-enabled smartphone.
China is Apple’s second-largest market but reports from Reuter on Friday stated that there were short queues outside of Apple stores in business hubs of Shanghai which unlike the number of crowds that would usually queue to purchase a new iPhone in previous times.
Suggestions are that people are probably choosing to buy online rather than having to queue for the device physically as e-Commerce seems to be the new norm especially due to the adverse impact of the COVID-19 on the society.
“I feel great being the first customer to get the new iPhone,” said Yan Bingqing, 30, who arrived before the store opened, and was in a line of about 20 people. “I’ve been waiting a long time.”
Trending in the Chinese’s Weibo social media service was the green shade of the iPhone 12 which showed that people are definitely interested in the device.
Even though there was a mixed reaction to the release of the iPhone 12 series just this past week, experts expects that there will be a surge in the number of orders of the iPhone 12 this year which could catapult the company to the forefront as the leader in 5G smartphone despite being a late comer.
Chinese e-commerce retailer JD.com saw pre-orders for all four models of the iPhone 12 hit 1.6 million on the first day of the announcement.
“From the bottom of my heart, it’s a little bit late for Apple to release the 5G iPhone,” said Zhu Lin, another Apple fan who had queued. “I was expecting it last year.”
Apple and Huawei Technologies Co Ltd are the only top phone makers racking up shipment growth in China this year, with an annual rise of 35% for Apple in the second quarter, research firm Canalys says and on Thursday, Huawei released its new flagship the Mate 40 series which has some pretty high-end features and competitive specifications that can make it a good rival of the iPhone 12 series in the country.