Interest in Apple’s iPhone X smartphone ‘very good’, say Singapore telcos

SINGAPORE: Apple will launch its much-awaited iPhone X smartphone later this week on Nov 3, and in Singapore, interest in the device has been healthy according to telcos here.

M1 told Channel NewsAsia on Monday (Oct 30) that response for the top-tier smartphone has been “very good” during its registration of interest phase, and of these, about 20 per cent were able to pre-order the handset.

The M1 spokesperson was keen to point out that registration of interest and pre-orders are only part of the demand for the iPhone X. “There are also customers who did not submit or missed the registration of interest, but remain keen to get their hands on the iPhone X. We will fulfill demand as we get stocks from Apple,” he added.

Mobile virtual network provider (MVNO) Circles.Life, which leases capacity from M1, observed similar trends. A spokesperson said in an email that while it only has a registration of interest option available currently, it is “seeing a dramatic increase in interest” compared to the other phone launches for 2017.

She added that it will have the phones available for purchase from Nov 3, and will be able to deliver the phone as soon as the day itself or the day after. Asked where its stock is from, the spokesperson said it has “a few partners who give us access to (the) phone” but declined to identify them.

When contacted, StarHub simply said that “the iPhone continues to be one of the more popular choices among our customers”, without elaborating. Singtel has yet to reply.

The comments by local telcos come after Apple said pre-orders for its 10th anniversary phone were off the charts, while delivery times on its website have been pushed out to five to six weeks, indicating that the hefty price tag – which starts at S$1,648 for the entry-level 64GB model – has not put people off wanting to get their hands on the smartphone.

The iPhone X’s launch follows weeks of concerns among analysts about the production of the new phone, which for the first time includes new facial identification software to replace the fingerprint sensor used on previous phones.

They have cautioned that production of the phone was below target, due to difficulties in producing the TrueDepth camera system, which houses sophisticated cameras and sensors making it possible to unlock the phone using Face ID.

Bloomberg had reported last week that Apple had allowed suppliers to reduce the accuracy of the Face ID system to speed up output of the phone, but Apple subsequently issued a statement saying: “Bloomberg’s claim that Apple has reduced the accuracy spec for Face ID is completely false.”