iPhone 6 and 6 Plus preorders hit 4.85 million in China

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Photo: JD.com
Photo: JD.com

China may be getting the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus a little later than many parts of the world, but that doesn’t seem to have slowed down demand any.

Ever since being made available for preorder late last week, upwards of 4.85 million iPhone 6 family handsets have reportedly been ordered, according to the Chinese live tracking website JD.com.

This preorder process, available for all three major Chinese carriers, was originally set to start on October 10, although it seems that China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unicom all jumped the gun in accepting advance orders. The handsets themselves are scheduled to go on sale October 17.

The handsets were delayed in China as the result of trouble for Apple securing the necessary regulatory approvals from the country’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. In their absence, numerous gray market smugglers imported Apple’s next generation smartphones, while Samsung rushed to release its new flagship handset in the country to try and boost sales.

In the U.S., Apple scored a record 4 million preorders in its first 24 hours, and ultimately sold 10 million+ units in its opening weekend. While China might not quite beat those numbers on its own, it’s certainly giving Apple’s initial markets an impressive run for their money.

Via: Forbes

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