Apple and Huawei both launched on the same day: iPhone 16 Pro scalpers increased the price by 300 yuan for acquisition, while Huawei's official website sold out of foldable phones in seconds

On September 20th, Beijing time, the iPhone 16 series was officially released.

Since starting online pre-sales a week ago, customers who pre-ordered will receive their new devices either through delivery or by personally picking them up at the store.

As is customary, Apple Store stores nationwide will open early on this day to welcome customers picking up their orders. At the Apple retail store in Sanlitun, Beijing, employees had already completed preparations for the first sale early in the morning and opened for business promptly at 8:00 am.

At 10:08 am on the same day, Huawei's first tri-fold phone, the Mate Xt Extraordinary Master, was also officially launched. It comes in three configurations: 16GB + 256GB, 16GB + 512GB, and 16GB + 1TB, priced at 19,999 yuan, 21,999 yuan, and 23,999 yuan respectively.

After the start of sales, all models of the Mate Xt Extraordinary Master were sold out instantly, and the official website channel showed out of stock.

Heavy Rain in Beijing, Can't Dampen the Enthusiasm of Apple Fans

As a cold front passed through, Beijing experienced heavy rain this morning, but Apple fans remained enthusiastic. By 7:30 am on September 20th, nearly 200 people were already queuing outside the Sanlitun Apple store.

In addition to the area for picking up pre-ordered items, Apple also set up a waiting area next to the Apple Store where users without reservations could wait to enter and make purchases after the store officially opened.

The user at the front of the line at the Sanlitun store told Tencent Technology that he buys the latest iPhone every year. This year, he pre-ordered an iPhone 16 Pro Max in Desert Gold and arrived at the Apple Store to queue up before 5 am.

As a "highlight" of the new iPhone release by Apple, scalpers are still present outside stores nationwide, reselling the iPhone series at a markup. According to Tencent Technology's on-site investigation at the Sanlitun Apple store, the iPhone 16 Pro Max is generally marked up by 300 to 500 yuan, while the other three models have relatively lower markups this year, with some scalpers adding 50 yuan to the Pro version and no markup for the standard version.

One scalper mentioned that the new Desert Gold color introduced in the Pro series is in high demand, and they can resell it at a markup of 300-500 yuan. He has a Desert Gold titanium iPhone 16 Pro Max 1TB version in hand, ready to sell at a premium of 800 yuan.

Chinese Version of iPhone 16 Currently Excluded from Apple Intelligence

At this year's June Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), Apple had previously previewed multiple AI new features and planned to integrate generative AI capabilities into iPhone applications through "Apple Intelligence."

With Apple Intelligence, users can customize emojis, AI-generated messages on their iPhones, and even activate an upgraded version of the Siri voice assistant. The Apple AI system is available on the iPhone 16 series launched today, as well as the previous generation iPhone 15 Pro version.

"We estimate that over 15% of Apple users will upgrade to the iPhone 16 because Apple Intelligence is a killer app that many people have been waiting for."

According to analyst Dan Ives from the foreign brokerage firm Wedbush Securities, this is a huge opportunity. He predicts that around 270 million iPhones are expected to be upgraded within four years. However, unlike previous years where the global launch was simultaneous, the Apple AI set to be officially launched in October will not be available on the iPhone 16.

Regarding the topic of not being able to use Apple AI in the short term, the consumer who was first in line at Sanlitun told Tencent Technology that the absence of AI will not affect his purchase of the new product, but he is still looking forward to experiencing this feature as soon as possible.

Apple and Huawei Compete on the Same Day

Similar to previous years, during this year's pre-sale period, the iPhone 16 Pro series continues to outsell the iPhone 16 series. As of 10:00 PM on September 19th, the delivery time for the Pro model on the Apple official website has been extended by 3-4 weeks, while the standard version has a delivery time of around 2 weeks. More platforms have participated in the pre-order of the iPhone 16 series this year. According to the situation on September 13th when JD.com and Tmall started pre-orders, both models of the iPhone 16 Pro series were sold out lightning-fast, with the delivery date already extended to October on the same day.

Before the release of the iPhone 16, Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo released the latest forecast report, stating that the latest survey results show that the first weekend pre-order sales of the iPhone 16 series are approximately 37 million units, a decrease of about 12.7% compared to the first weekend sales of the iPhone 15 series last year. The main reason for the decline in data is that the sales of the iPhone 16 Pro series are below expectations He said that the main reason for the lower-than-expected sales of the iPhone 16 Pro is that Apple Intelligence, which is the biggest selling point of this generation, could not be launched with the iPhone 16 series. In addition, the intense competition in the Chinese market continues to affect the demand for iPhones.

Also today, Huawei's first tri-fold screen phone will officially go on sale at 10:08 am, which is another direct confrontation with Apple after the release of Mate60 last year. The new product form and strong marketing channels will indeed have a significant impact on the sales of the iPhone 16, especially the high-end market-oriented iPhone 16 Pro Max.

However, Guo Mingji also stated in the analysis report that although pre-orders for the iPhone 16 Pro series decreased compared to the previous weekend, the production plans of the supply chain should not change significantly in the short term. With the release of Apple Intelligence in the fourth quarter, as well as peak season promotions and other means, the shipment volume of the iPhone 16 is expected to further improve. He also believes that Apple will adopt a more aggressive product strategy in 2025 to boost demand.

Sales Zhang Li (pseudonym), who has been operating mobile phone sales channels in Zhongguancun for a long time, provided Tencent Technology with a new machine price list on the morning of September 20th. Except for a slight markup on the iPhone 16 Pro Max, all other machines can be purchased at the official Apple website prices. "There are a lot of channel goods this year, so I can only make some money from the channel plus tax. I didn't make much money this year," Zhang Li told Tencent Technology.

Unlike the situation in previous years where prices changed three times a day, this year the channel prices of the iPhone 16 series will be more sensitive. "Prices basically change every hour. The price you see now will change in the next hour," Zhang Li said.

Author: Wu Bin, Source: Tencent Technology, Original Title: "Apple and Huawei go on sale on the same day: iPhone 16 Pro scalpers increase by 300 yuan, Huawei's tri-fold official website sells out instantly"