Vietnam is clearly a market with great potential for Apple. Even the next-generation models with high prices such as iPhone 12 are selling well.
The long queues of people waiting to buy next-generation iPhones are no longer strange to Vietnamese. The image of the long queue has once again returned, after iPhone 12 officially hit the shelves, despite Covid-19.
Large retail chains in Vietnam, including The Gioi Di Dong, FPT Shop, Shopdunk and Di Dong Viet began selling all the four models – iPhone 12, iPhone 12 mini, iPhone 12 Pro and iPhone 12 Pro Max – several days ago.
The quoted price is from VND22 million for iPhone 12 mini, and VND25 million for iPhone 12 (64 GB version). Meanwhile, iPhone 12 Pro and iPhone 12 Pro Max 128 GB have starting prices of VND31 million and VND34 million, respectively.
Some buyers complain about the short supply: the supply of gold and white color versions of iPhone 12 Pro Max cannot meet the demand. They have been told to wait for delivery on December 3.
Meanwhile, the supply of iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 mini is plentiful and buyers don’t need to make a deposit.
According to The Gioi Di Dong, the number of iPhone 12 orders has reached a record high with 15,000 orders and 12,000 deposits, nearly double last year. iPhone 12 Pro Max is the most wanted with the number of orders accounting for 50 percent.
Meanwhile, FPT Shop has 41,000 orders, 68 percent of which are for iPhone 12 Pro Max, and 19 percent for iPhone 12 Pro. The figures are 10 percent and 4 percent for iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 mini, respectively.
At Di Dong Viet, the number of orders for iPhone 12 Pro Max is also the highest, accounting for 64 percent of orders.
As iPhone 12 has now been distributed officially in Vietnam, privately run shops which sell products carried to Vietnam across border gates have become quiet.
In 2019, iPhone 11 appeared in Vietnam even before Apple officially put it on sale, and iPhone 11 flooded the domestic market right after the product officially hit the shelves. But things are different this year.
Apple wanted to eliminate the market of unofficially distributed iPhones, but it seemed to be an impossible mission. However, analysts say that the manufacturer now has more favorable conditions to do this to ‘tidy up’ the market worth $300 million.
Meanwhile, Vietnam has set a new regulation which imposes fines of VND100-200 million on selling products carried to Vietnam through unofficial channels with no invoices to prove the origin.
This article was originally published in VNA