iDevice lovers in China have long been waiting for the iPhone 6 and iPhoen 6 Plus and Apple has promised that the devices will be available for customers as soon as the company receives approval from the regulatory officials. China, the largest smartphone market in the world, accounts for 15.9 percent of Apple's total revenue during the last quarter.
Prior to the release in China, Apple had already accepted pre-orders of the device through the nation's largest telecom company known as China Mobile. However, those pre-orders remained only as pre-orders while customers from New York, Singapore and Hong Kong are already enjoying their newly purchased iPhone 6 devices. All of the excitement on the new flagship phone from Apple has also caught the attention of Chinese scalpers who wanted to earn a premium by making illegal transactions.
Wholesalers that are involved in the smuggling of a huge number of iPhones into China are said to have slashed down their prices in order to move inventory. In central Beijing, one electronics retailer was reportedly selling iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus models for $1,060 up to $1,436 which is lower than the release price of $1,960 to $2,450.
"Stocks of the iPhone 6 are way too high right now," said one wholesaler from Zhongguanchun who sells smuggled iPhones.
There were at least 453 smuggled iPhones that were seized by officials in Shanghai on Sunday. Hundreds more devices were seized from three separate raids that began on Thursday and continued on Saturday in Hong Kong.
The Shanghai customs agency reported that two passengers, one is Chinese and one is Japanese, who arrived at the Shanghai airport were found with smuggled iPhones in their luggage. The passengers came from Tokyo. The agency added that there were hundreds more that were confiscated with their devices when they failed to declare the items at customs.
According to one wholesaler, the primary route of the iPhone smuggling into China starts from Hong Kong. Scalpers would organize Hong Kong customers using their local identity cards. These Hong Kong customers would preorder the phones which the scalpers would collect outside the store. The phones are sold with an added price of $325 per piece. After getting their phones, the scalpers would smuggle them to wholesalers in Guangdong which is located across the border from Hong Kong. From Guangdong, the phones are then shipped to various cities all over China.
Smugglers were able to escape from the stricter enforcement of anti-smuggling by walking while carrying the phones across the border two people at a time. Upon reaching the border, the phones are taken out of their packaging and were claimed to be personal possessions.
In China, it's normal to find an unopened iPhone 6 that is still wrapped in plastic but shows dotted fingerprints on the screen. "Right now at our market you won't find a phone that is actually in its original packaging," said one wholesaler.
