Latest iPhone all the rage with richest buyers

ON a bustling street in China’s boomtown of Shenzhen, more than 30 stores carrying Apple’s iconic white logos peddle pre-orders for the new iPhone, seen as a status symbol among many better-off Chinese.

Many of the shops look just like Apple’s signature outlets, right down to the sales staff kitted out in blue T-shirts bearing the company’s white logo and the sample iPads and iWatches in sleek displays.

But the world’s secondlargest smartphone vendor only has one official store in Shenzhen and five authorised dealers in the area.

Most of the stores in the kilometre-long shopping corridor are unauthorised “fakes” – although they are selling genuine Apple products.

Their numbers have mushroomed ahead of the release today of the iPhone 6S and iPhone 6s Plus.

The rapid increase in copycat Apple stores underscores the popularity of the brand in China, where it doubled its revenue in the third quarter from a year earlier to more than $13-billion (R182-billion).

This suggests the US tech giant is on course to shrug off weakening consumer spending in its second biggest market.

“There are many silly people in China willing to pay extra money just to get a new iPhone ahead of everyone else,” an assistant in one store said.

The latest iPhone will be available today only to customers who have reserved online – and pre-order demand has already outstripped available supply. – Reuters