Did the iPhone create scalpers or did scalpers make the iPhone popular?

September has become the traditional date for Apple to launch new smartphones every year, and this year is no exception. At 10 a.m. on September 9, U.S. West Coast time, Apple launched two new smartphones, the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 plus. Like any other domestic smartphone brands, after a brief evaluation discussion, all news about iPhone phones began to be dominated by price fluctuations and sales channels. Among all the shocking news reports, the word we saw the most was "scalpers".

At least in the Chinese mainland market, it has long been unclear whether it was the iPhone 6 that created the great scalper business, or the great scalpers who pushed the iPhone 6 to the most high-end path.

Apple "broke the promise" in the mainland market

The Chinese mainland market has always been the market with the most explosive potential for Apple mobile phones. The hot sales of iPhone 4 and 4S in the mainland market led Apple to list mainland China as one of the first countries to launch iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c. As the mainland market continues to heat up, the news that iPhone 6 will be sold in China has almost never been doubted, but the facts are still surprising.

Up to now, the two iPhone 6 release lists that have been announced do not include the Chinese mainland market. There are currently three unofficial explanations for the reason.

First, the official Weibo account of China Telecom Shanghai Online Business Hall confirmed on the afternoon of August 21 that the China Telecom version of iPhone 6 will no longer be network locked, that is, it will be compatible with three networks. China Unicom and China Mobile also have internal information to confirm that the biggest feature of iPhone 6, whether it is the Unicom version or the Mobile version, is that it can be used on all networks.

The tri-network compatible is undoubtedly the best news for users, but it seems that it is precisely because of this breakthrough that the Chinese mainland market has not yet appeared in the list of countries for the iPhone 6. It is reported that due to the monopoly of China Telecom, the tri-network compatible iPhone 6 must first obtain a network access license issued by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology before it can be launched in China. The network access license generally takes 12 working days to be approved. According to the practice of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issuing licenses twice a month, if you miss the opportunity to obtain a license at the beginning of the month, you have to wait until at least the end of the month to obtain a network access license.

Second, the opening of the mainland market may lead to severe challenges for the supply chain. Although this statement sounds a bit far-fetched, based on the data released so far, the sales of iPhone 6 in the first week exceeded 10 million units, so this possibility does exist.

Of course, it is really worth investigating how much the Chinese mainland market, with scalpers as an important channel, has contributed to the sales of tens of millions of units.

Third, the early promotional content of the three major Chinese operators may have been leaked, angering Apple. There are rumors that the three major Chinese operators collectively exposed the confidential information of the iPhone 6's three-network compatibility in their promotional advertisements, which made Apple's top management furious and pushed back the launch time in the Chinese mainland market again and again. Of course, this statement is the most ridiculous. Just ask, who would be so stupid as to not make money?

This is the iPhone 6 that belongs to the scalpers.

As early as the launch of the new products on September 9, Apple's official website once showed that iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus would be launched in mainland China on September 26. But soon after, the news was deleted, and now the homepage of the official website only says "the release date will be updated later."

The release of such a bleak news and the fermentation of the indignation of the fanatical "Apple fans" finally triggered the rise of scalpers. In mid-September, the price of iPhone 6 in the Hong Kong market was about 10,000 yuan, and the price in the Zhongguancun market in the mainland was about 20,000 yuan. In front of the Apple store in any country where the iPhone 6 is launched, you can find a large number of Chinese scalpers. Among them, professional scalpers account for a minority, while "guest" scalpers account for the majority, including the elderly, the disabled, and the homeless.

Although the market price of the first round of Apple's new products has always been driven up over the years, this time, the enthusiasm for trying new things has turned into irrational pursuit, and people who are so excited that they are even close to collapse have caused the entire iPhone 6 market to develop in a disorderly manner.

Just like the joke widely circulated in WeChat Moments, "A group of Chinese people work day and night to assemble iPhone 6s and send them to the United States. Then another group of Chinese people queue up day and night to buy them and send them back to China. Finally, they sell them to another group of Chinese people at a price that neither of these two groups of Chinese can afford. As a result, the assembly workers have jobs, the queue workers have income, and the wealthy buyers also pay a large amount of 'luxury tax'. This is socialism with Chinese characteristics. - Excerpts from the latest comments of the American technology media The Verge."

Ironic reports and comments began to bring the current sales situation of iPhone 6 in the mainland market back to reality. In the past two days, due to the sufficient supply of iPhone 6 in Apple stores across the country, the price of iPhone 6 in the entire scalper market began to drop significantly, and some pre-order users who were too excited began to calm down. In addition, scalpers in Hong Kong and Shenzhen were in a dilemma of bankruptcy due to hoarding.

The so-called "shooting oneself in the foot" is just like this. It remains to be seen how much more waves the scalpers can stir up in the iPhone 6 market in the future. But what we should pay most attention to at present is when the Chinese version of iPhone 6 will be available on the market.

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.