It looks like that Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) latest iPhone; 5S and 5C, could not allure the consumers in China, like previously. Also, Low cost iPhone 5C has not been received very well by the Chinese consumers, according to data given by China’s second largest carrier.
iPhone 5S, out of stock
According to SinaTech, iPhone 5S is gaining popularity at Apple website. Looking into China’s Apple official website, it is gathered that all the eight stores in China are out of stock for the iPhone 5S, and only a 16 GB without contract gray color iPhone are left.
However, iPhone 5C remains less popular despite the phone being available in various colors and available at nearly all stores, though there are stores where stock for the device is also over, a store in Shenzhen being the one.
China Unicom got 50% less reservations this time
According to Network carrier, China Unicom’s official account at Sina Weibo total reservations for iPhone have reached 100,000, which is down by almost half than the 200,000 reservation that came in for the iPhone 5 pre orders last year.
In China, iPhone 5C is priced at CNY4488 ($733) off contract, which is slightly low than iPhone 5S price at CNY5288 ($864). Less reservation at China Unicom are definitely not the parameter to estimate the overall popularity if iPhone, but still they do raise concerns. Contrary to the situation at China Unicom, iPhone 5s has been demanded more than low price iPhone 5C.
Reservations may pick up later
Talking about operators, low reservation volume at China Unicom is not the indicator of poor demand as it may be possible that customers prefer China telecom, which is giving a low price over China Unicom, or there might be consumers who do not want to get restricted to a particular carriers plan.
Additionally, there may be some consumers waiting for China Mobile to come with the iPhone as Apple, recently, bagged the regulatory approval to work with China mobile.
Further, it has been proved again that Apple iPhone are a niche category product for the Chinese customers, and they are ready to shell out few extra bucks to get their hand on the premium version. iPhone 5S full reservation shows that Apple’s high end strategy is paying off, however, it is too early to draw any conclusion.
