Apple’s iPhone 15 is warmly received by Chinese consumers, with strong pre-order sales despite Huawei revival and state ban
JD.com customers placed more than 3 million pre-orders on the Apple store on the platform for all four models of the iPhone 15 as of MondayThe strong pre-order sales come after the official launch of the iPhone 15 series in China last WednesdayAppleBen Jiangin BeijingPublished: 9:00pm, 19 Sep, 2023Why you can trust SCMP
Apple’s new iPhone 15 series has been warmly received in China with consumers rushing to snap up the latest iteration of the US tech giant’s iconic handset via a variety of sales channels, staunching those voices that said Apple may struggle amid new competition from Huawei Technologies and a partial government ban.
Within the first 10 minutes of Apple’s commencement of iPhone 15 pre-orders, the California-based firm’s official mainland China website crashed amid high demand. Pre-order flow at Apple stores on e-commerce sites such as Alibaba’s Tmall and JD.com has also been heavy. Alibaba owns the South China Morning Post.
The first batch of iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max handsets available for pre-order on the official Apple Store on Tmall were snatched up in less than a minute after orders started being taken at 8pm last Friday, according to a report by local media outlet Jiemian.
A Tmall manager told Jiemian, which is affiliated with the Shanghai United Media Group, that they had to replenish stock nine times in under 30 minutes, adding that the premium Pro Max was the quickest-selling model.
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Meanwhile, customers of Beijing-based JD.com had placed more than 3 million pre-orders on the Apple store on the platform for all four models of the iPhone 15 as of Monday, according to figures shown on its website.