Chinese Consumers’ Enthusiasm for iPhone 13 Crashes Apple Website in China

On the evening of September 17th, Apple’s iPhone 13 series of smartphones began pre-sales through the company’s official website and major e-commerce platforms. Shortly after the pre-sale began, the official website was unable to connect to the Apple Store page or simply got stuck.

The most popular pink model on Tmall’s booking platform was snapped up in less than 3 minutes. Apple’s official store on Tmall offered more products than originally scheduled overnight yesterday, and some models were available only for a short time before selling out.

According to previous data, as of the afternoon of September 16th, more than 3 million people had booked one of the models of the iPhone 13 series on Tmall’s platform. As of Thursday, Chinese consumers had pre-purchased more than 2 million iPhone 13s on JD.COM, exceeding the 1.5 million iPhone 12 that went on pre-sale on the same platform last year.

Bynoon on the 17th, Apple’s official website in China had entered maintenance mode, and the official website page displayed the notice that “The best thing to come before the weekend is the pre-order.” When Apple has released important new products before, its official website would enter the maintenance state ahead of schedule, but it is rare to start maintenance at least 6 hours ahead of schedule this year.

In the early morning of September 15th, Apple officially held its new product launch conference, bringing a series of products such as iPad, iPad mini, Apple Watch S7 and the brand-new iPhone 13. According to Apple’s official website, the starting prices of the iPhone13 mini, iPhone13, iPhone13 Pro are 5,199 yuan, 5,999 yuan, and 12,999 yuan.

However, on popular Chinese e-commerce platform Pinduoduo, the iPhone 13 series dropped by as much as 500 yuan, and the prices of the iPad and iPad mini could be found to be reduced by as much as 300 yuan.

SEE ALSO: Pinduoduo Launches Subsidies for Apple Products, iPhone 13 Price Drops Up to 500 Yuan

According to a Global Times report, global market research firm TrendForce said that, although the tight supply of certain components due to complications resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic remains Apple’s primary production-related challenge, iPhone production is unlikely to be drastically affected. Total iPhone production for 2021 is expected to reach 229.5 million units, a 15.6 percent increase year-on-year, with the iPhone 13 models accounting for about 37-39 percent of the total, the agency said.

In July this year, Apple CEO Tim Cook said at the financial report conference that, thanks to the strong sales of iPhone 12, Apple’s revenue in China reached a new record high of $14.8 billion in the fiscal quarter ending June 26, an increase of nearly 60% over the same period of last year.