A buyer holds up the brand new orange-colored iPhone 17 Professional Max smartphone inside an Apple retail retailer in Chongqing, China, on September 19, 2025.
Cheng Xin | Getty Photographs Information | Getty Photographs
The iPhone 17 hit retailer cabinets worldwide on Friday, drawing lengthy strains from Beijing to Singapore.
However past the launch buzz, Apple is underneath strain to show itself, grappling with questions round its synthetic intelligence plans in addition to growing competitors.
A type of markets is China, the place Apple clients waited for hours and even in a single day to get their fingers on the brand new iPhone
First in line on the Apple flagship Retailer in Sanlitun, Beijing, this morning, was Liu — he didn’t want to be recognized by his full identify — who advised CNBC that he had been queuing since 11 p.m. on Thursday for his probability to select up the iPhone 17 Professional Max.
He mentioned he was excited in regards to the smartphone’s new coloration and exterior design, which Apple says has improved the cellphone’s warmth dissipation.
Merchandise on shows for the primary time embrace the iPhone 17 Professional, iPhone 17 Professional Max, and iPhone Air, in addition to new Apple Watch and AirPods fashions.
Whereas they have been obtainable for preorders within the U.S. from Sept. 12, the worldwide launch holds explicit significance as Apple takes on rising competitors in abroad markets.
China competitors
Notably, Liu additionally mentioned he has modified to Apple from Huawei in recent times, seeing the iPhone as higher for every day life and leisure.
One other individual, who wished to be recognized solely by his surname, Yang — an erstwhile Xiaomi person — mentioned he had been ready to get his fingers on the most recent iPhone, preferring them for his or her working system.
Each Liu and Yang anticipate many Chinese language residents to purchase their first iPhone this yr attributable to new options, comparable to bigger inside storage.
If that pattern have been to pan out, it could be welcome information for the iPhone, which has misplaced market share in China to gamers comparable to Huawei and Xiaomi.
After years of management within the area, Apple now solely holds 10% of the Chinese language smartphone market, trailing native gamers like Oppo, Huawei, Xiaomi and others, based on knowledge from Omdia.
Up to now, the indicators are constructive for the iPhone 17 sequence in China. Final Friday, JD.com — one among China’s largest ecommerce platforms — noticed the primary minute of iPhone 17 sequence preorders surpass the first-day preorder quantity of final yr’s iPhone 16 sequence, the corporate reported.
Different markets
Within the a lot smaller however prosperous market of Singapore, the redesigned iPhone 17s have been additionally met with fervor, with lengthy strains forming exterior Apple shops throughout the town.
Iman Isa and Daniel Muhamed Nuv, two younger professionals in Singapore, had each queued up hours forward of open at Apple’s outlet within the metropolis’s iconic Marina Bay mall to purchase iPhone 17 Professionals, which they mentioned have been their first new telephones in a few years.
Citing recent designs, longer battery life and an improved digicam, they mentioned that the brand new telephones provide sufficient to maintain them loyal to the Apple ecosystem.
Strains have been even longer at an outlet in Singapore’s Orchard, the city-state’s major buying heart, with a separate queue for individuals who had preordered the iPhones.
Based mostly on preorder instances and shopper suggestions, the preliminary world demand for the iPhone 17 sequence seems largely constructive, mentioned Le Xuan Chiew, a analysis supervisor at Omdia.
The iPhone 17 base mannequin particularly has outperformed expectations, because the pricing at launch has remained unchanged from its predecessor regardless of upgrades in reminiscence storage, Chiew mentioned.
In Singapore, clients arriving at Apple shops had additionally been seeking to nab a number of the firm’s new AirPods Professional 3, citing the product’s stay translation function as a serious promoting level.
Apple intelligence
A profitable iPhone 17 launch may assist reassure Apple buyers after a removed from thrilling rollout of its synthetic intelligence options which started late final yr.
Chatting with CNBC’s “Squawk Field Europe” final week, Ben Wooden, chief analyst at CCS Perception, lauded Apple’s newest product launches, however mentioned that the corporate wanted to ship on synthetic intelligence.
“There isn’t any query that Apple must ship on AI,” he mentioned, noting that the corporate had “dropped the ball” final yr by making huge guarantees that didn’t materialize. Such plans have now been pushed to subsequent yr.
“Apple has to catch up [in AI], however proper now, I believe they have sufficient runway to have the ability to cope within the intervening interval.”
– CNBC’s Eunice Yoon contributed to this report
