Apple started taking pre-orders for its iPhone 17 family just a couple of hours ago, with China being one of the company’s preferred regions because of how much shipment traction the region witnesses annually. Where the Cupertino firm had to enforce discounts earlier this year on the iPhone 16 series to encourage sales in the country, the latest update reveals that pre-order demand between Chinese customers is so high that Apple’s official online store crashed, with several models sporting different colors and storage tiers out of stock.
Reservations for the base iPhone 17 have exceeded 3.7 million units on JD.com, as customers flock to different online retailers amidst the website crash
The surging demand for the iPhone 17 was reported by Yicai Tech, with tipster @Jukanlosreve spotting crucial details on how Apple’s latest flagship series is performing in the region. Only yesterday, we reported that one online retailer recorded 5 million reservations, and now, just the base variant has garnered more than 3.7 million reservations on JD.com, which is China’s largest retailer by revenue and ranks 47 on Fortune’s Global 500 list. From the look of things, even Apple might not have been expecting a demand surge because it is rare for the company’s official online store to crash due to overwhelming traffic.
Looking at the reception, Apple might have already informed Foxconn, its chief assembling partner, to ramp up production to maintain pace with the fiery demand. One major reason why the base iPhone 17 has picked up steam in China is because Apple has finally brought LTPO OLED technology to all four models. This means that even the most affordable version, which starts from $799 in the U.S., has access to a high refresh rate panel that can go up to 120Hz, while also reducing that number to 1Hz to conserve battery life.
Additionally, the company has outfitted the iPhone 17 with the newest A19, which is mass produced on TSMC’s 3nm ‘N3P’ process, bringing slight performance and efficiency improvements over the A18 and A18 Pro, which were fabricated on the older second-generation 3nm node. We previously reported that Apple is estimated to ship 100 million iPhone 17 units this year, and even though the iPhone 17 Pro Max would likely make up the bulk of this number, looking at the demand spike for the base model, the company may need to make some production adjustments.
Follow Wccftech on Google to get more of our news coverage in your feeds.
