PChome recorded more than NT$100 million (US$3.19 million) in iPhone 14 sales in just five minutes after the newest iPhone series went on sale in the Taiwan market on Friday, according to the online vendor.
PChome launched its iPhone 14 sale at 8 a.m. As the company has a commitment to allow consumers in downtown Taipei to get their phones as quickly as possible in 30 minutes after purchases are made, it was upbeat that strong sales would continue.
On Sept. 7 (U.S. time), Apple Inc. unveiled its four latest iPhone models: the iPhone 14, iPhone 14 Plus, iPhone 14 Pro, and iPhone 14 Pro Max.
The flagship 6.1-inch iPhone 14 Pro and 6.7-inch iPhone 14 Pro Max are available in four different color schemes — silver, deep purple, space black, and gold.
The 6.1-inch iPhone 14 and 6.7-inch iPhone Plus are available in five different color schemes — midnight, purple, starlight, red, and blue.
Prices for the iPhone 14 for consumers in Taiwan start at NT$27,900 (US$891), with iPhone 14 Plus models starting at NT$31,900, the iPhone 14 Pro at NT$34,900, and the iPhone 14 Pro Max at NT$38,900.
This makes the starting prices for the iPhone 14, Pro, and Pro Max more expensive than last year’s iPhone 13 models by NT$2,000 due to a stronger U.S. dollar.
PChome kicked off its pre-order sale on Sept. 8 with the iPhone 14 Pro Max models snapped up in only one and half minutes, the online vendor said.
According to PChome, on the first day of sale Friday, male customers accounted for 80 percent of the total buyers under its special purchase program, and office workers in the 30-40 age range made up almost 40 percent.
Momo, a rival of PChome, said its website was swarmed by a great number of potential customers soon after its online iPhone 14 sale also started at 8 a.m. on Friday.
While momo did not have the iPhone 14 Plus on sale Friday, it offered the three other models with the iPhone 14 Pro 256GB as the top model in its sales rankings, ahead of the iPhone 14 Pro Max 256GB, the iPhone 14 Pro 128GB, the iPhone 14 Pro Max 128GB, and the iPhone 14 128GB.
Momo said some customers even got their new iPhone 14s in just more than one hour after they completed their purchase at around 8 a.m.
The vendor said it expected similar strong demand when the iPhone 14 Plus goes on sale on Oct. 7.
As for physical vendors, a man surnamed Hsu (許) got a deep purple iPhone 14 Pro 256GB to become the first iPhone 14 buyer of Chunghwa Telecom Co. after having waited for 68 hours in a long line outside a Chunghwa Telecom store in Taipei.
Hsu, who runs a business that makes vinyl-wrapping for cell phones, had been queueing in rotation with 18 of his employees when the doors opened in an attempt to secure the new iPhones for customers of his shop.
Chunghwa Telecom, one of the three leading telecom operators in Taiwan, provided AirPods as a gift to the first 10 buyers and NT$3,600 coupons to the first 80 buyers.
According to Chunghwa Telecom, the deep purple iPhone 14 Pro Max 256GB, the iPhone 14 Pro Max 256GB, the space black iPhone 14 Pro 256GB, and the iPhone 14 Pro Max 256GB were the top four iPhone 14 best sellers on the first day of sales Friday, while the NT$1,399 monthly subscription package for all iPhone 14 models was also popular.
Rival Taiwan Mobile Co. said the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max almost sold out in 15 minutes after its iPhone 14 online sale began, while its myfone online shopping platform saw the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max sell out just one minute after its sales began.
The two models accounted for 90 percent of its total iPhone 14 sales on Friday, the company said.
Taiwan Mobile went on to say that the deep purple iPhone 14 Pro series made up almost 70 percent of its total iPhone 14 sales on the day.
Unlike the “hair band” seen on the iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus, the iPhone 14 Pro and the iPhone 14 Pro Max have a new pill-shaped cutout called Dynamic Island, which Apple said could morph into different shapes and sizes for functions including incoming phone calls, alerts, notifications, and Face ID authentication.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel