Making a killing! Parallel importers use huge iPhone 6 pre-order deposits to lend money

The absence of the iPhone 6 from the mainland was a carnival for the parallel importers. "Pre-orders started in July at a price of 5,999 yuan, and shipments were from mid-September to October. During the three months or so, a huge amount of money was accumulated for financial operations," said a parallel importer, describing his business strategy.

According to industry sources yesterday, due to the inability to obtain a network access license from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (hereinafter referred to as "MIIT"), the mainland operator version of the iPhone 6 may not be available for sale this year. On the other hand, the price of the iPhone 6, which is constantly rising, has become a futures product. Some parallel importers said that many iPhone 6 pre-orders were used for short-term loans or P2P investments.

It is said that the “National Bank” will not be able to enter the mainland this year

Someone close to Apple said that although Apple has already submitted materials and signed cooperative sales agreements with the three major operators, since mainland China has not yet issued FDD LTE commercial licenses and FDD 4G is limited to trial cities, theoretically Apple's FDD 4G iPhone 6 cannot be officially sold in mainland China.

But Apple would rather sell a full-format version than a "castrated" or customized version with only TD-LTE. Industry insiders believe that if this problem cannot be solved, the network access license for Apple iPhone 6 will fail again, and the date for reapplication has not been determined.

Regarding the news that the carrier version of iPhone 6 has been repeatedly delayed, a carrier official interviewed said that the three major carriers are becoming increasingly passive. Since they have signed a certain purchase volume with Apple, if the iPhone 6 is not available for sale until next year, it will become yesterday's news or even unsalable.

Parallel importers use advance payments for lending

"Those who pre-ordered in July and August are still selling at 5,999 yuan, but those who pre-order now will be charged more." A parallel importer who did not want to be named told reporters that the poor sales of iPhone 5S in the past made him afraid to ask for a high price. However, the repeated "delays" in the release of iPhone 6 by mainland operators have made parallel importers overjoyed. According to the official price announced by the Hong Kong Apple Store, the 16G version of iPhone 6 is priced at around 4,400 yuan, and the price difference for each parallel import is as high as 1,600 yuan.

The parallel importer told the reporter that he has nearly 1 million yuan in cash on hand because he has over 100 customers who have made reservations. He will use the funds for short-term investment, such as lending them out through “reliable” microfinance companies or investing them in reliable peer-to-peer (P2P) lending projects.

According to people familiar with the financial industry, there are currently hundreds of P2P companies in the country, most of which can provide an annualized interest rate of 12% to 20%. The above-mentioned parallel importers said that since the shortage of iPhone 6 is likely to last for several months, with more and more pre-order funds, this is definitely a big business that is sure to make money.

According to data released by Apple, global sales of iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus exceeded 4 million units on the first day of pre-order.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.