A grey-importer's bounty: unlocked iPhone 4S models to sell in China at wildly inflated prices. (Image source: DoNews)
Like bottles of Prohibition era moonshine, arriving in docks under cover of darkness, China’s first iPhone 4S handsets are arriving in China and are furtively changing hands for large amounts of cash.
Chinese tech site DoNews reports that the very first unlocked iPhone 4S models being shipped into China from Australia are being sold to pre-booked, eager moonshine-drinkers for as much as 15,000 RMB (US$2,350). The phones sell unlocked in Australia for AUS$799 to 999 (US$826 to 1,030). It’s a grey-market phenomenon that now happens annually in the first few days after a new iPhone is launched elsewhere in the world. For the rest of this week, it’ll be normal for buyers to snap up a 4S for anywhere from 10,000 to 15,000 RMB.
Only in the coming weeks, as Apple’s smartphone launches in more countries, will the price drop to a somewhat less crazy figure. Sadly, there’s no launch date set for the 4S for either mainland China or Hong Kong. Luckier geeks in Japan got their official launch on Friday – the only first-stage roll-out for the 4S in Asia.
Another reason for particularly insane mark-ups in the mainland might be that some of the iPhone 4Ses are coming via Hong Kong, meaning that there has been one more grey-importer adding his cut. Head over to HK’s Apple Daily for a news report (in Cantonese) on the buying frenzy in Hong Kong yesterday.
[Source: DoNews – article in Chinese]
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