Apple’s iPhone 17 launch draws hundreds in long queue at its Beijing store – The Economic Times

Tons of of individuals lined up at Apple’s flagship retailer in Beijing on the launch day of the iPhone 17 on Friday in an indication that gross sales of the sequence are off to a promising begin on this planet’s second-largest financial system.

Among the many roughly 300 people who arrived within the morning at Apple’s retailer in downtown Sanlitun to select up telephones ordered on-line was Shuke Wang, 35, who mentioned he bought the Professional Max mannequin, priced from 9,999 yuan ($1,406) in China and pegged by analysts to be the perfect promoting mannequin within the 17 sequence.

“I actually just like the 17 sequence’ redesign, and I feel the orange-coloured one appears good, however too flashy. The Air Mannequin appears good too, however the Professional Max provides longer battery life,” he mentioned.

Apple says the bottom mannequin iPhone 17 has a brighter, extra scratch-resistant display screen, and also will have a greater front-facing digital camera that may make horizontal selfies look higher.

Analysts say the iPhone 17 sequence may give an important end-of-year enhance to Apple’s market share and shipments in China, which have been pressured this yr by intensifying competitors from Xiaomi and Huawei amid weak shopper demand.

Apple doesn’t disclose pre-order figures.

Within the first eight weeks of the third quarter, Apple’s shipments decreased 6%, in keeping with information from Counterpoint Analysis launched earlier this week.

Chiew Le Xuan, a senior analyst at analysis firm Omdia, mentioned they anticipated iPhone shipments in China to rise 11% yr over yr within the second half, pushed by the brand new sequence, contributing to five% full-year progress for Apple in 2025.

“The iPhone 17 Pro Max is anticipated to outperform the 16 Professional Max, pushed by a serious redesign – an element that has traditionally spurred substitute demand in China,” mentioned Chiew. “It’s prone to change into Apple’s top-performing mannequin within the Chinese language market in 2026.”

The iPhone Air would be the solely mannequin in China to have telecom operators’ help for an e-SIM – a digital SIM embedded within the gadget. Nevertheless, Apple has not opened pre-sales for the Air in China and says the supply of eSIM companies from China Cell, China Telecom, and China Unicom is topic to regulatory approval.

“The iPhone Air might function a testbed for thin-and-light expertise that might later be utilized to a foldable iPhone,” mentioned Will Wong, a senior smartphone analyst at IDC.

Wong mentioned the Air will not ship a serious gross sales enhance, as Apple traded off battery life and digital camera and audio high quality, which Chinese language shoppers worth, to realize the slimmer design options. ($1 = 7.1138 Chinese language yuan renminbi) (Reporting by Che Pan and Brenda Goh; Modifying by Sonali Paul)