There was a long queue at the official launch of the iPhone 17. Despite its great word-of-mouth, it saw its price drop below the official price the soonest. The Air model isn't on the market yet, awaiting approval for eSIM from carriers.

Scalpers' Purchase Prices Plummet Rapidly

On September 19th, Apple officially launched three new models: the iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro, and iPhone 17 Pro Max. Due to issues with the eSIM service roll - out, the iPhone 17 Air was not released, and no physical units were on display at Apple stores. A store clerk said, "We have to wait for notifications from the carriers. It will be launched after all approvals are obtained."

As early as 8 p.m. a week ago (September 12th), pre - orders for the iPhone 17 series began. This year, the Pro models feature a brand - new design, and the standard models are equipped with high - refresh displays for the first time, supporting up to 40W fast charging. Coupled with national subsidies, as soon as pre - orders started, the models were instantly sold out on platforms such as the official Apple website, JD.com, and Taobao.

Different from previous years, although the iPhone 17 series has received rave reviews, it has become the fastest model to "break the issue price." Previously, the iPhone 15 and iPhone 16 series were briefly hyped as "futures" on their release days. However, this year, due to sufficient supply, combined with national subsidies and discounts from e - commerce platforms, the price system of the iPhone 17 series returned to rationality more quickly.

A reporter from "IT Times" saw on - site that a long queue had formed in front of the Apple Jing'an Store on Nanjing West Road by around 7 a.m. this morning. At 7:58 a.m., as a clerk led the crowd in a countdown of "3, 2, 1," the glass doors slowly opened, and the crowd rushed in instantly, creating a highly ceremonial atmosphere.

Actually, scalpers had become active even earlier. At around 6 a.m., a scalper posted a message on WeChat Moments offering to buy the iPhone 17 series at a premium.

Half an hour before the official release, he told the reporter that he would not buy the standard iPhone 17 this year. He was willing to buy the iPhone 17 Pro Max at a premium of about 400 yuan, but the phones had to be sold before noon, and he would only accept the orange and silver models. "We might buy the blue ones at a lower price. We lost money on the iPhone 16 last year."

However, the actual market situation was more unstable than expected. Just after 8 a.m., a group of scalpers gathered in front of the Jing'an Store. They were extremely cautious and would only quote a price after seeing the physical unit or the reservation code. The reporter from "IT Times" noticed that initially, the scalpers on - site offered a premium of 100 - 400 yuan for Pro models and above. Then, they resold the phones through various channels at a premium of 200 - 1000 yuan.

At around 8:20 a.m., a consumer came to inquire about the price of an orange iPhone 17 Pro Max he had just obtained. The scalper initially offered a premium of 400 yuan, but after making a few phone calls, the price dropped to 300 yuan within 5 minutes. The consumer shook his head and left, saying, "Your prices are too unstable." The scalper shrugged and explained, "We're only making a profit of fifty or one hundred yuan now. The prices are dropping rapidly. If we wait any longer, we might lose money."

As the scalpers' purchase prices continued to plummet, many consumers who had managed to get their hands on the first - batch phones simply chose to "skip the middlemen." At 8:30 a.m., a customer sold his newly - obtained 512G orange iPhone 17 Pro Max directly to another customer in front of the store at a premium of 500 yuan.

The reporter noticed that currently, it takes about 3 - 4 weeks to receive an iPhone 17 ordered from the official website. An Apple employee at the Shanghai Jing'an Store said that for on - site orders, the earliest delivery would be at the end of October. "You can add the phone to your shopping cart first and then see if you can choose in - store pickup."

By 8:40 a.m., the market situation continued to decline. The premium for the orange iPhone 17 Pro Max dropped from 300 yuan to 200 yuan. The scalpers' purchasing strategy became even more cautious. "We don't want to buy the Pro series anymore unless someone places an order, and then we'll help find the phones."

A few days before the official release, the iPhone 17 series was quickly launched in the 10 - billion subsidy section of Pinduoduo, becoming the channel with the largest known price cuts across the network.

Among them, the iPhone 17 was priced as low as 5099 yuan, the iPhone 17 Pro as low as 7999 yuan, and the iPhone 17 Pro Max as low as 8999 yuan. Some netizens even posted their purchase receipts, showing that the 256GB iPhone 17 was sold at a final price of 4999 yuan after applying more coupons.

Less than an hour after the official release, the scalpers in front of the Jing'an Store had dispersed, while the line of consumers waiting to pick up their phones remained. The excitement and the game of interests are a true reflection of the launch day of each generation of iPhone.

Photos / IT Times

This article is from the WeChat official account "IT Times" (ID: vittimes). Author: Jia Tianrong. Republished by 36Kr with permission.