Apple announced official iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus launch plans for China earlier this week, and while the phone will only start selling in local Apple and carrier retail stores on October 17th, with preorders and in-store reservations set for October 10th and October 14th, respectively, iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus reservations are already available to early buyers, already topping 2 million units in the first 6 hours. Sina reports that even though Apple offered an October 10 preorder date for the new iPhones, all three major local carriers and other retailers have started taking reservations for the handset.
FROM EARLIER: The iPhone 6 is ready for its biggest challenge yet
According to AppleInsider, 2 million iPhone 6 reservations have been registered in the first six hours, and these apparently are “incomplete statistics.”
Apple wasn’t able to clear regulatory hurdles in China in time for its official September 19 iPhone 6 launch, which is why the phone isn’t officially available in the region yet. Many reports revealed that smugglers have purchased iPhone 6 stock from various other markets, reselling the phones in mainland China for prices going up to $4,000.
Even so, the company had a record launch, selling 10 million iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 units during the first weekend, an even more impressive number considering that China was not included in the initial rollout. Last year, the iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c launch weekend saw Apple selling 9 million combined units, although 2.75 million of those were bought by in China.
The iPhone 6’s launch in China is all the more important as Apple is now selling its smartphones with all three major carriers, including China Mobile, the largest mobile operator in the world.
Interestingly, Sina’s report revealed that the 64GB versions of the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus were the most popular orders for Chinese customers.
