China iPhone 6/6+ pre-orders pass 20 million+

[ponyo]

http://www.valuewalk.com/2014/10/apple-inc-iphone-6-6-plus-pre-orders-in-china/

Holy cr*p! Pre-orders for iPhone 6/6+ in China started 10/10. Over the weekend, JD.com and three Chinese carriers received over 20 million orders for the new iPhone. The 20 million pre-orders don't include Apple or 6,000 other resellers. 20 million is just from one web retailer and three carriers. That's scary and amazing at the same time.

 

[ThatsABigOne]

Not surprised considering Apple products are used as a status image in China.

 

[WelshBloke]

There's a lot of people in China. I have it on good authority that there's 9 million bicycles in Beijing for instance.

 

[Brian Stirling]

Which begs the question of how much money lost out on in the last 3+ years owing to there not having large phones.

This is also going to further hammer Samsung stock.

This must make the small phone crowd really pissed as many of them were convinced small was why Apple dominated.

The Apple ad they've been running to promote the new line uses the word "huge" a lot.


Brian

 

[cronos]

Not surprised considering Apple products are used as a status image in China.

Errr... 'in China'?

 

[Mopetar]

Which begs the question of how much money lost out on in the last 3+ years owing to there not having large phones.

No, it doesn't. It raises the question.

/pedant

That said, I question whether or not Apple will even be able to meet this demand. That number alone is about as many as they've sold world wide in some of their single quarters in the past few years.

At that point it becomes a question of how much money they might be losing due to inability to ramp up their manufacturing. I think eventually they'll need to switch to releasing different devices at different times in the year, otherwise they'll come to a point where they almost need to start manufacturing the next phone shortly after releasing the previous in order to be able to satisfy the demand at launch.

Either that or they'll need to invest a lot of their profit into developing some new state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities with robots and other automation that will be able to pump out product even faster.

 

[poofyhairguy]

This must make the small phone crowd really pissed as many of them were convinced small was why Apple dominated.

Really? I think it is obvious large phones are winning.

 

[dguy6789]

Errr... 'in China'?

Maybe in other countries I suppose. In America iPhone is sort of the Walmart of phones. Big huge Galaxy phones are the status symbols.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

There's a lot of people in China. I have it on good authority that there's 9 million bicycles in Beijing for instance.

Perhaps, but that whole 1980s conception of China having a bajillion bikes on the streets has not been true for a while. I've been to Beijing 4 times and walked the streets many times, and I don't recall hordes of bicycles even back in 2000. If anything its just like any other major city but with bigger congestion issues.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xG-meaGqg-M

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

Not surprised considering Apple products are used as a status image in China.

I think its partially a status thing, but its also just that Asians love gadgets and the newest things. You see it everywhere.

In Vegas, the newest nightclubs are where all the Asians are. Even pre-iPhone, Asians had the newest phones all the time. Back then it was all about the Sony Ericsson featurephones or Nokia N-series. They had them all in Asia.

 

[WelshBloke]

Perhaps, but that whole 1980s conception of China having a bajillion bikes on the streets has not been true for a while. I've been to Beijing 4 times and walked the streets many times, and I don't recall hordes of bicycles even back in 2000. If anything its just like any other major city but with bigger congestion issues.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xG-meaGqg-M

It's a fact.

Its a thing you can't deny.

 

[openwheel]

everyone in Asia drool over iPhones. It is a status symbol for anyone who can't afford a real status symbol. People barely make anything buys iPhones at higher than retail price. It's a bazaar phenomenon.

 

[WelshBloke]

... It's a bazaar phenomenon.

That actually works in context. :awe:

 

[cheezy321]

Maybe in other countries I suppose. In America iPhone is sort of the Walmart of phones. Big huge Galaxy phones are the status symbols.

wut.

 

[cronos]

Maybe in other countries I suppose. In America iPhone is sort of the Walmart of phones. Big huge Galaxy phones are the status symbols.

OK I think my meter is broken again, because I really can't tell

 

[ams23]

China is simply a huge market nowadays. Even big blockbuster movies make much more money today in China than they do in the USA (for instance, Expendables 3 has made nearly twice as much money in China than it has made in the USA).

 

[Mopetar]

China is simply a huge market nowadays. Even big blockbuster movies make much more money today in China than they do in the USA (for instance, Expendables 3 has made nearly twice as much money in China than it has made in the USA).

Actually, even though the crowds in China are rather large, the studios don't make anywhere near as much of a profit as the government takes a fairly large chunk and the revenues are lower than in Western countries due to reduced ticket prices that are adjusted for Chinese wage levels.

It's not nearly as much of a money maker as you might assume.

 

[Lyfer]

That's crazy.

 

[ams23]

Actually, even though the crowds in China are rather large, the studios don't make anywhere near as much of a profit as the government takes a fairly large chunk and the revenues are lower than in Western countries due to reduced ticket prices that are adjusted for Chinese wage levels.

It's not nearly as much of a money maker as you might assume.

I should have clarified that I meant that some blockbuster movies make higher revenues (rather than higher profits) in China than in the USA. If you look at a movie such as Expendables 3, the revenues in China are nearly 2x larger than in the USA! Now, that may be the exception rather than the rule, and it is definitely true that lower ticket prices in China depress realizeable revenue, but it goes without saying that a lot of movie tickets are being sold in China because the customer base is so huge.

 

[kaerflog]

everyone in Asia drool over iPhones. It is a status symbol for anyone who can't afford a real status symbol. People barely make anything buys iPhones at higher than retail price. It's a bazaar phenomenon.

This is very true.

 

[jpeyton]

The market for smartphones is expanding rapidly.

This is why gross sales is a less meaningful metric.

In 2010, 20 million units represented 6.7% of yearly worldwide smartphone sales.

In 2014, it's less than 1%.

Apple gets their profit and Google gets their eyeballs. Everyone wins.

 

[Accord99]

I should have clarified that I meant that some blockbuster movies make higher revenues (rather than higher profits) in China than in the USA. If you look at a movie such as Expendables 3, the revenues in China are nearly 2x larger than in the USA!

That really comes from a combination of Jet Li and Expendables 3 being a box office failure in North America. Comparing a wider variety of movies and the USA gross is usually twice as much.

 

[Megatomic]

Maybe in other countries I suppose. In America iPhone is sort of the Walmart of phones. Big huge Galaxy phones are the status symbols.

I'm going to go ahead and disagree with this. My daughter is the only person I know in real life with a huge Samsung phone and it is a 1st gen Mega. It's definitely NOT a status symbol.