Chinese Line Up Globally To Buy – And Then Sell – the iPhone 6
Posted: 09/22/2014 11:00 amWhen it comes to Apple’s iPhone 6, there is nothing Chinese won’t do to get their hands on one including, but not limited to, queuing day and night, sleeping on the sidewalk, or renting out a girlfriend to raise money for the phone.
Instead of waiting in line with fully-charged Apple devices like other Apple fans in Melbourne, Australia, many Chinese were seen getting by with a uniquely Chinese pastime: mahjong, Tencent News reported. Squatting on small chairs, nothing seemed to disturb those eagerly waiting from shuffling their mahjong tiles.
Interestingly, the report acknowledged a lot of Chinese faces waiting in the queues worldwide. Almost everywhere the iPhone 6 is available, including the U.S., Hong Kong and Australia, a sizeable number of Chinese – young, old, men, and women – made up large portions of the lines. This of course fuels speculation that Chinese buyers are scalping the phones to clients in China, where the phone is unavailable, at a significantly higher price.
In a six-minute video by Casey Neistat, Chinese were documented selling their newly acquired phones to other interested buyers. He claimed the Chinese lining up for the phones in the city were organized and managed by Chinese mafia groups.
We don’t know if there is any truth to Casey’s claim; but, if there is, judging by the dedication Chinese buyers have shown so far for the phone, the mafia were doing a good job keeping them in line.
See the photos below for more evidence of the Chinese love of the iPhone 6:
Photos: Tencent, Reuters and AFP