Apple iPhone 17 goes on sale: Scalpers surround stores for "secret" transactions, Pro Max becomes a hit with a nearly 1,000-yuan price hike

“I'm selling the 256GB orange iPhone 17 Pro Max at a markup of 800 yuan.” On September 19th, the Apple iPhone 17 series was officially launched. A reporter from Times Finance visited the Apple Store at Tianhuan Plaza in Guangzhou. The store usually opens at 10 a.m., but on the day of the new product launch, customers were allowed to enter at 8 a.m. However, even before that, the entrance was already crowded with people waiting to pick up their phones, and the queue wound around the store three or four times.

In fact, the store started letting people in around 7 a.m. The Apple Store staff on site were maintaining order while shouting to let customers who had made appointments for specific time slots to enter.

“There's no more stock in the store! As for when the next batch of goods will arrive, you can only try to grab them on the Apple official website. You need to make an appointment before you can come to pick them up,” said a store clerk. Since it was the morning rush hour, there were relatively fewer people at this time. “There will be more people in the afternoon and evening,” the clerk added.

The price of the 256GB base model of the iPhone 17 is 5,999 yuan, which falls within the national subsidy range. However, the store clerk mentioned that their store has not participated in the national subsidy program.

At the store exit, there was also a large crowd. Many people were holding three or four bags of Apple products. Times Finance learned that most of these people were scalpers, and there was a constant buzz of bargaining, with many of them being foreigners. After getting the goods, some scalpers would go straight to the pre - arranged meeting place with their customers. The transactions related to the iPhone 17 extended to the periphery of Tianhuan Plaza. Some people were stopped by scalpers right after picking up their phones from the store and were asked, “Will you sell it at a markup of 600 yuan?”

“I'm selling the orange iPhone 17 Pro Max at a markup of 800 - 1,000 yuan, and the Pro at a markup of 300 yuan,” a scalper told Times Finance. He also said that the market conditions change every day, and it might not be that expensive in a couple of days. Besides selling to consumers, scalpers also resell to each other. “I'm buying the Pro Max at a markup of 600 - 700 yuan,” a scalper shouted at the scene.

Source: Photo taken by Times Finance

Based on on - site observations, the most in - demand models are still the iPhone 17 Pro series, especially the orange version of the iPhone 17 Pro Max, which received the most inquiries. Among scalpers, there were few selling the standard version of the iPhone 17. “We don't charge a markup for the standard version of the iPhone 17,” a scalper said.

However, on second - hand platforms, Times Finance found that there were still many resale posts for the standard version of the iPhone 17, with markups ranging from dozens to 150 yuan. Some scalpers were selling the phone at a markup on top of the 5,499 - yuan price after the 500 - yuan national subsidy.

Source: Screenshot from a second - hand platform

According to information obtained by Times Finance from JD.com, as of 12 p.m. on September 19th, more than 30,000 users across the country had successfully received their new iPhone 17 series products on JD.com. On the 19th, users who received new phones were spread across major cities and 80% of districts and counties in the country. In addition, within one minute of the pre - sale of the iPhone 17 series on JD.com, the sales volume exceeded that of the whole day last year, breaking the sales record. As of 10 a.m. on September 19th, the sales volume of the iPhone 17 through the trade - in program was four times that of the same period last year.

Guo Mingchi, a well - known Apple analyst at TF International Securities, recently posted an article saying that the pre - sale performance of the iPhone 17 series in the first weekend was better than that of the iPhone 16 last year, and the most in - demand model was still the Pro Max.

Guo Mingchi said that from the total production volume of the Pro Max, Pro, and standard versions in the third quarter, the production of the iPhone 17 increased by about 25% compared with the iPhone 16, but the shipping time was only extended by about a week, indicating that the overall pre - sale demand for the three iPhone 17 models was better. Guo Mingchi pointed out that the most in - demand model was still the Pro Max. The production volume of the iPhone 17 Pro Max in the third quarter of 2025 increased by about 60% compared with the 16 Pro Max in the same period last year, but the shipping time was similar.

The iPhone Air, the model with the most innovation this year, has not been launched yet. The Apple official website still shows that all models will be launched after approval.

Previously, on August 29th, Times Finance visited the recruitment situation at the Foxconn Industrial Park in Shenzhen. At that time, an intermediary said that the peak season for labor recruitment was coming to an end, and Foxconn had set a limit on recruitment. Meanwhile, the official account “Zhengzhou Fugonglian Recruitment” posted an announcement on the same day, saying “Today is the last day of the high - price offer,” with a referral fee of 8,000 + 500 yuan subsidy.

However, after entering September, “Zhengzhou Fugonglian Recruitment” posted that the wages had “returned to their peak.” The referral fee on September 2nd was 8,000 + 300 yuan subsidy, which rose to 8,000 + 600 yuan on September 3rd, and reached 8,000 + 1,300 yuan on September 5th. As of September 18th, the referral fee was still 8,000 + 800 yuan. A Foxconn employee in Zhengzhou said that they were currently in the mass - production ramp - up period of the iPhone 17 series, and they had been working overtime recently.

(Reporter Feng Liange from Times Finance also contributed to this article)

This article is from the WeChat official account “Times Finance APP” (ID: tf - app), author: Guo Meiting, published by 36Kr with authorization.