“Wholesalers who helped orchestrate the smuggling of tens of thousands of the phones into the country are now slashing prices to move inventory. At an electronics market in central Beijing, one retailer was recently selling the low-end iPhone 6 and 6 Plus for 6,500 renminbi to 8,800 renminbi ($1,060 to $1,436), down from 12,000 renminbi to 15,000 renminbi ($1,960 to $2,450) just after the release,” Paul Mozur and Shanshan Wang report for The New York Times. “‘Stocks of the iPhone 6 are way too high right now,’ said one wholesaler of smuggled iPhones in Beijing’s northwestern tech hub Zhongguancun.”
“When the prices were high, early last week, the wholesaler said he was making more than $163 per sale,” Mozur and Shanshan Wang report. “But his profit margins have dissolved as prices have fallen. ‘This year the scalpers’ losses will be big,’ he said.”
MacDailyNews Take: Good.
“The Chinese government is not making things any easier. An intensifying crackdown on corruption in the country has led officials, who in the past were known to spend big on luxury products like iPhones, to tamp down on lavish purchases,” Mozur and Shanshan Wang report. “Three government officials in Shanghai and Beijing said they had not heard about any formal notice to stop using foreign phones and said many in their departments still used iPhones. One of the officials in Beijing, however, said people in his office refrained from bringing in Apple computers or iPads, because they are a more conspicuous display of wealth.”
Full article here.
Related articles:
iPhone 6/Plus lust revives underground U.S. market, joining China’s thriving gray market – September 24, 2014
Smugglers cash in on delayed iPhone launch in China – September 19, 2014
iPhone 6/Plus queues far larger than for iPhone 5/5s launches – September 19, 2014
Mother of all upgrades: Huge crowds greet Apple’s new iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus – September 19, 2014
Apple’s iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus debuts worldwide to long lines – September 19, 2014
Gold iPhone 6 Plus price hits $3,600 in China as delay fuels black market – September 18, 2014
There is still demand for it here in the States. My daughter wanted to buy a “6” Saturday in mid Dallas at 2 Apple stores but the lines were about an hour+ long and she was in a hurry. She did get one on Sunday after waiting in line for about 30 minutes. At the Knox street, there were no “Plus” phones.
The price was artificially inflated to begin with by not knowing the actual launch date in China. With an Oct. 10 launch now looming, the resellers are in a panic. There’s now only a limited pool of buyers willing to pay a huge markup just so they can have bragging rights for the next 12 days.
This is funny. When the government finds these iPhones, where do you think those iPhones go? Why over pay for what you can acquire by simply doing your job for a while.
Also note: The iPhone 6 isn’t not approved in China yet because they do not know how to hack into their citizens if they own an iPhone 6. This is a good sales point that Apple can’t use but a AT&T, Verizon, … could.