Chinese Carriers Take One Million iPhone 6 Pre-Orders in First Six Hours

Friday October 10, 2014 8:27 AM PDT by Kelly Hodgkins
Pre-orders for Apple's iPhone 6 and 6 Plus started today in China, with sales from the country's three carriers hitting one million units, reports Chinese publication Tencent (via Fortune). This figure includes orders processed by China's major wireless carriers and does not account for those orders accepted by Apple or the more than 6,000 resellers that also opened iPhone reservations today.

iphone6-stock-photo
While pre-orders officially began on Friday, October 10th, Chinese website JingDong started accepting iPhone 6 and 6 Plus reservations last week. In its first week, the website processed more than 9 million reservations, with the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus almost equally popular among consumers.

Apple launched its new iPhone models in September with sales reaching 10 million in the opening weekend. Demand for the new iPhone models remains strong, with Apple reportedly pushing back production of a rumored 12.9-inch iPad in order to boost the company's iPhone 6 Plus supply first.

44 comments


Top Rated Comments

(View all)
Avatar
jrswizzle
59 months ago

I don't care if they all worked at Foxconn making $2.00 a day. 1.3 billion is a big number for only 1 million pre orders regardless of the poverty levels.


If they all worked at Foxconn making $2 a day, there would be 0 preorders because no one would be able to afford it.
Rating: 9 Votes
Avatar
decimortis
59 months ago
All ordered by this guy...
Rating: 7 Votes
Avatar
skafia
59 months ago

Only 1 million preorders for a population of 1.3 billion seems pretty low


Did you forget this is a third world country with a per capita of $11k?
Rating: 7 Votes
Avatar
ArtOfWarfare
59 months ago

Only 1 million preorders for a population of 1.3 billion seems pretty low


You're very confused. China's people collectively have $1.4 T or so to spend on all their needs throughout the year. In less than 1/1000th of a year, they spent around $500 M - over 1/3000th of all the money they spend annually - on iPhones.

If they kept this up throughout the year, for every dollar spent on anything in China, $0.33 of it would be on an iPhone. That's huge.
Rating: 6 Votes
Avatar
linkgx1
59 months ago

Only 1 million preorders for a population of 1.3 billion seems pretty low


Depends on how many people have access to wealth.
Rating: 4 Votes
Avatar
srsub3
59 months ago
finally no more scalpers in the US
Rating: 3 Votes
Avatar
Appl3FTW
59 months ago

Only 1 million preorders for a population of 1.3 billion seems pretty low


Newsflash, not everyone in China is wealthy. Only a fraction.
Rating: 3 Votes
Avatar
MonkeySee....
59 months ago

I don't care if they all worked at Foxconn making $2.00 a day. 1.3 billion is a big number for only 1 million pre orders regardless of the poverty levels.


That's some stellar logic there.

Congrats! :rolleyes:
Rating: 3 Votes
Avatar
cocky jeremy
59 months ago

That's some stellar logic there.

Congrats! :rolleyes:


None of us have any money, but there are a lot of us. Where's my iPhone?! ;)

----------

I'm wondering where you got the data of the pre-order split in the USA. Only Apple knows this. Supply of the iPhone 6 Plus was far more constrained according to supply-chain reports and even according to Fox Conn's disclosed numbers of how many units of each they could manufacture each day.

The 3-4 week wait time is likely due to supply constraints. I am guessing that more than half the pre-orders went to the base iPhone 6 in the USA based on surveys that have been conducted. The fact that you are claiming that the "bulk" of the preorders were for the iPhone 6 Plus seems incorrect.

If you have a survey that shows otherwise, I would be interested, but this is the first time I have heard anybody make this claim.

UPDATE (since I remembered that I know how to use Google):

I found this survey from Piper Jafray of folks waiting in line at the NYC Apple Store: http://www.businessweek.com/news/2014-09-20/apple-iphone-6-plus-outselling-smaller-model-survey-says

It says 57% waiting in line were wanting to get the iPhone 6 Plus.

However, this survey says that web usage statistics show the 6 Plus trailing the 6 significantly (could be due to supply):
http://www.forbes.com/sites/chuckjones/2014/09/21/latest-iphone-6-and-6-plus-usage-survey-and-updated-lead-times/

Finally, this a poll on iMore.com shows a dead-even split among iMore readers (though I doubt these readers are representative of the general population given their skew toward loving tech gadgets):

http://www.imore.com/are-you-getting-iphone-6-or-iphone-6-plus-poll


You really need access to actual orders. Impossible to tell based on web usage. Like you said, way too many backordered 6 Plus models to get an accurate number.
Rating: 3 Votes
Avatar
AppleHater
59 months ago
About 50 miliion Chinese people are milionaires. While people in China are not rich in general, there are still plenty of Chinese people who can buy new iPhone every year.
Rating: 1 Votes
[ Read All Comments ]