Apple’s iPhone 4S has proven to be a huge hit in Hong Kong, with the city’s flagship Apple store selling all of its stock within a matter of hours. The fifth-generation device went on sale at 7 AM local time, but by lunchtime it was all gone.
Some carriers in the city have still have the device in stock, but the Apple store itself has nothing. MacNN reports that 1,250 people waited in the store’s official line for the device, but another 2,000 customers gathered outside of it, hoping to get their hands on the hottest iPhone yet.
It’s no surprise the device sold quickly, however. When pre-orders for the handset went live in Hong Kong, Apple sold out online within just 10 minutes.
Its launch in the city is believed to have gone “rather smoothly,” which is surprising, considering the violence that broke out over the device between users and scalpers on Wednesday night. Belligerent gangs arrived at the store and attempted to push their way to the front of the queue, resulting in fights and a police evacuation hours later.
Apple reportedly capped in-store sales of its new iPhone at five per customer, but that still provides scalpers with enough handsets to make a month’s salary in one day, according to MacNN. Some of them are said to make up to HK$1,000 (US$129) for each device. In the U.S., customers are typically limited to two devices at a time.
