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.
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
Luke Dormehl is a U.K.-based journalist and author, with a background working in documentary film for Channel 4 and the BBC. He is the author of The Apple Revolution and The Formula: How Algorithms Solve All Our Problems … and Create More, both published by Penguin/Random House. His tech writing has also appeared in Wired, Fast Company, Techmeme and other publications.
