iPhone 14 sales fetch millions of dollars
Vietnamese spent millions of dollars buying iPhone 14 smartphones when it was launched on Oct. 14.
The manager of an electronic retail store estimated more than 55,000 phones, mostly the most expensive version, Pro Max, were sold. “The total revenues were over VND1.5 trillion (US$63.8 million).”
Many distributors reported record sales. FPT Shop sold 5,000 iPhone 14s right in the early morning on Oct. 14, and a total of over 14,000 worth VND400 billion ($17 million) during the day. It has yet to deliver to over 5,000 buyers.
The Gioi Di Dong said it has delivered some 12,000 phones, mainly iPhone 14 Pro Max 128 GB and 256 GB to pre-ordered customers. Many other distributors and e-commerce platforms also reported sales of hundreds of billions of dong. Of the four versions of the phone, Pro Max accounted for some 80% of sales.
Business insiders said the current shortage of Pro and 14 Pro Max versions would continue at least until the end of October. The Gioi Di Dong has to deliver over 20,000 phones yet, and others also have thousands of unfulfilled pre-orders. People looking to buy the Pro Max have to place pre-orders and wait until November for delivery.
But the two least expensive variants, iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus, are available at most stores.
Retailers required iPhone 14 buyers to unseal and activate the phone right at the shop to prevent them from reselling at higher prices. However, many iPhone 14 Pros were indeed resold at VND1-2 million higher than the official price, and Pro Maxs at a VND4 million premium.
According to statistics released by the Ministry of Industry and Trade, Vietnam spent over US$1.2 billion importing iPhones last year.
Overall, imports of phones and comp