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Apple’s iPhone Air reportedly sold out across Chinese online stores when preorders went live this past Friday. The phone was unavailable within hours of preorders opening.
South China Morning Post reports that demand for the thin and light iPhone proved high once preorders opened. The iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro, and iPhone 17 Pro Max are already on sale in the country, but buyers had to wait for the iPhone Air to arrive.
The delay was caused by regulatory hurdles over the fact the iPhone Air doesn’t have a space for a physical SIM card. Instead, it relies on an eSIM, because Apple needed as much space for the iPhone Air’s battery as possible.
The strong sales followed CEO Tim Cook’s visit this week to promote the product in the world’s largest smartphone market amid ongoing geopolitical tensions between China and the US. As chairman of an advisory body at Tsinghua University’s management school, Cook also met Vice-Premier He Lifeng on Thursday.
Pre-sales for the iPhone Air, which supports only e-SIM and received regulatory approval to launch in China just recently, began at 9am local time on Friday – more than a month later than most of the world.
The iPhone Air has been on sale on other countries for a few weeks, with demand thought to be lukewarm. The phone has a single camera and relatively poor battery life when compared to other models. That makes its $999 (7,999 yuan in China) a problem for some buyers.
Buyers could choose from four different colors and multiple storage options, with the base model shipping with 256GB.
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