BEIJING, China (Reuters) — Wen Qinle, a 29-year-old mobile accessory shop owner in China, who has been in the business for ten years, said that he had stocked-up forty cases and one hundred screen protectors for Apple’s iPhone X which launched on Friday (November 3).
The businessman is expecting the latest iteration of the iPhone to help lift sales after Apple said pre-orders for the the ten-year edition handset have been “off the charts”, following sluggish demand for the cheaper iPhone 8, which hit the market in September.
Apple is banking on the new iPhone X to revive its fortunes in the world’s biggest smartphone market where it has lost some of its sparkle as local phone makers have advanced.
“Now there’s a saying that Apple is looking more and more like Chinese (phone) producers. The Chinese producers are the first to produce the full screen,” said Beijing-based tech analyst Li Chengdong who expects Apple to continue to lose more market share if the Silicon Valley giant fails to be as innovative as China’s smartphone makers.
And Apple may be falling behind in the looks department for some Chinese consumers like 25-year-old Meng Xue who had switched to a Huawei phone previously, “I can only say that it is a bit ugly for me, ugly,” she added.
Still, Apple can depend on the allure of its brand and the iPhone legacy. “It (iPhone X) feels like it’s from a different era compared with previous iPhones,” said 22-year-old college student Xie Wenrui.
