Scalpers refuse to accept vs. Premium of 10,000 Apple, Huawei on the first day of sale "Heaven and Hell"

Today, the iPhone 16 series and the Huawei Mate XT foldable screen phone were released simultaneously.

Similar to last year, the iPhone 16 standard version and Plus are experiencing a price drop again, while the Pro and Pro Max are in short supply; the Mate XT is experiencing a situation where it sells out online within seconds.

Reporters from the "Science and Technology Innovation Board Daily" visited the Apple Store official direct sales store in the Luohu area of Shenzhen and found that there were still queues to pick up machines until noon, with many scalpers holding paper bags waiting to recycle machines.

Apple Store staff told reporters from the "Science and Technology Innovation Board Daily" that the iPhone 16 standard version is still available, but the Pro and Pro Max versions still need to be reserved and waited for, and it is still unclear when they will arrive. "If you have participated in the 'iPhone Annual Renewal Plan,' you can come back to the store to try again after 4 days, you may have priority to get stock.

Instant retail competition for dividends

"I received the shipping reminder yesterday, and I hadn't even gotten up this morning, I didn't expect to receive it so quickly." On the day when third-party platforms and offline stores just started selling, the first batch of users who ordered through Tmall and the official website had already received notifications from the courier delivering the goods.

This year, more and more e-commerce and instant retail platforms have joined Apple's new product launch activities. The "Instant Retail Consumer Electronics Industry White Paper" shows that instant retail has become an important way for mobile phone brands to launch new products and expand market scale. In the past 3 years, the consumer electronics category has experienced rapid growth in the instant retail market. From 2021 to 2026, the compound annual growth rate is expected to reach 68.5%, and the scale of the instant retail consumer electronics industry will exceed one trillion in 2026.

As the only official brand flagship store of Apple on e-commerce platforms, the first batch of consumers who ordered through Tmall and the official website had already received notifications for home delivery when third-party platforms and offline stores just started selling.

According to information from Taobao Tmall, the Desert Gold color of the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max is the most popular, with the first batch of supply selling out instantly, and Tmall added replenishments overnight, up to 15 times within 1 hour, maintaining a sufficient supply.

Tmall stated that the Tmall Apple Store official flagship iPhone 16 has more abundant stock and genuine guarantee, with rights and benefits consistent with the Apple official website. It is reported that the Tmall Apple Store official flagship store has 26.45 million fans, gaining 420,000 new fans in just 3 days from the new product launch to pre-order.

Meituan told reporters that this year, nearly 7,000 Apple authorized specialty stores nationwide simultaneously sold new machines through Meituan's "takeout sales," with an increase in the number of new stores compared to last year, mainly concentrated in third- and fourth-tier cities and county areas.

The person in charge of an Apple authorized specialty store in Jinghong, Yunnan, said that currently, over 60% of the store's online sales come from instant retail channels such as Meituan Flash Purchase, and this year's supply of the iPhone 16 new machine is more sufficient Ele.me announced that it has reached cooperation with 4,000 Apple authorized stores this year, allowing Ele.me consumers to receive new phones within half an hour.

Despite offline queues, scalpers: iPhone 16 standard version and Plus have already broken the price.

"I can't wait for even a second longer. I must get the new product as soon as possible!" On September 20th at 8:00:32 at a Suning store, senior Apple fan Mr. Rong exchanged for an iPhone 16 Pro Max through a trade-in program, choosing the 256GB version in the popular Desert color.

It is worth noting that the iPhone counter at Hema X members' store also has a long line. According to official information from Hema X, the members' store simultaneously sells the iPhone 16 series, and consumers can buy them in stock without an appointment.

Some scalpers told "Science and Technology Board Daily" that the iPhone 16 standard version and Plus have already broken the price, and they no longer recycle these models. "Now we mainly recycle the Pro version and Pro Max. We can't make much money reselling them now, mainly earning a commission."

Quotation sheet from a second-hand recycler

After inquiring with several recyclers, reporters learned that this year, the premium for the iPhone 16 Pro is minimal, only 100-200 yuan, while the iPhone 16 Pro Max, especially in the new Desert Gold Titanium color, can be marked up by 300-400 yuan.

Similar situations have also appeared in Hong Kong, just "a river away" from Shenzhen, where the standard version and Plus version are not popular, while the Pro version and Pro Max are out of stock.

After receiving the first batch of iPhone 16 Pro, some consumers chose to reject them. One consumer told reporters, "The color I reserved is not accepted by the scalpers, and this year's iPhone 16 Pro cannot yet use Apple Intelligence. I think I can wait until Double Eleven to buy, at least the price will be much more favorable."

Richard Yu personally promotes Huawei's three-fold screen

On September 7th, the Huawei Mate XT Extraordinary Master started pre-orders and caused a market sensation, with over 6 million reservations on the Huawei Mall.

At the Suning Easy Buy store in Nanjing Xinjiekou, two three-fold screen new phones are prominently displayed at the entrance. "Since the Huawei Mate XT Extraordinary Master arrived at the store, the traffic in the experience area has nearly doubled," the store staff told reporters.

"As soon as the phone was released, I rushed to Suning to experience it and decisively reserved one." Mr. Li, who was ordering the Huawei Mate XT Extraordinary Master at the Suning store, said.

Richard Yu, Chairman of Huawei's Consumer Business Group, personally visited the Shanghai Huawei flagship store today to give out phones to the first batch of three-fold screen users. Yu said that the number of pre-orders has exceeded 6 million, and Huawei is working overtime to increase production capacity The Huawei Mate XT foldable phone is also selling like hotcakes online. Huawei's official online platform shows that all models of the Mate XT Master Edition were instantly sold out, and currently the official website channel is out of stock, with the purchase page showing "In line". Huawei Mall indicates that a restock will be available on September 21 at 10:08.

On the second-hand platform, many sellers who received the first batch of goods have already listed the Mate XT foldable phone, with the premium reduced from the previous 20,000-30,000 yuan to around 10,000 yuan