iPhone X debuts! Are Chinese queuing for it?

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Apple’s new flagship smartphone – iPhone X goes on sale around the world on Friday. After only a few people showed up in Beijing Apple stores for the launch of the iPhone 8, many were concerned about whether the iPhone X will live up to its hype and attract more buyers.

CGTN Digital visited the Apple store in Sanlitun, one of the most crowded shopping areas in Beijing.

Customers inside the Sanlitun Apple store in Beijing on November 3, 2017. /CGTN Photo

At around 7:50 a.m., there were about a hundred people queuing outside the store. Customers were given a cheerful welcome by employees when the doors opened at 8:00 a.m.

"I’ve always heard about people waiting in lines to get their new iPhones, I want to experience that this time," Mr. Zhao, who was picking up his new iPhone X at the store, told CGTN Digital. "Although not a lot of people choose to pick up on site anymore, the store is more crowded than I expected."

Mr. Zhao (R) at the Sanlitun Apple store to pick up his pre-ordered iPhone X on November 3, 2017. /CGTN Photo

According to one Apple employee, all the iPhone Xs in the store were already pre-purchased. This means the customers just had to come to pick up the products they had paid online.

Nearly half of the crowd in the store was media, searching for customers or Apple staff to interview.

The lucky guy who was the first to receive the iPhone X in the Sanlitun store was surrounded by cameras when the smartphone was handed to him.

The first customer in the Sanlitun store to receive the iPhone X. /CGTN Photo

"I arrived at the store at 5:30 a.m. this morning," the customer told Jiemian.com. "I couldn’t sleep last night because I was too excited."

The customer was even wearing a T-shirt with the new iPhone’s "X" symbol.

There were more than 100 people waiting outside the store when CGTN Digital left at around 9:00 a.m.

People queuing for iPhone X around the world

Although there are more options now for people to receive their new iPhones without waiting for hours or days in lines, some are still willing to take the "old-fashioned" way.

Apple's flagship Australian store in Sydney was the first in the world to sell iPhone X, and there were people who waited in line for four days before the sale started.

There were even people who got paid by buyers and scalpers to stand in line in London. A man said in an online video that he paid 200 pounds for queuing in advance.

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