Vietnamese want iPhone top models, willing to pay outrageous premium: retailers

Since 2022, when Apple set up authorized distribution in Vietnam, the costly Pro and Pro Max versions have always accounted for around 90% of sales, representatives of major retail chains told VnExpress.

On release day, these two versions usually account for 60-80% of sales, with customers being indifferent to the more affordable versions, they said.

"If Apple allows retailers to import more iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max desert titanium, these models would have accounted for 90% of first-day sales this year," a spokesperson for an iPhone importer said.

This seems somewhat counterintuitive since reports show that in 2023 and this year consumers were buying few smartphones priced VND20 million (US$800) or more and instead plumped for the VND5 million or below segment amid a continuing economic struggle.

Retailers say Vietnamese not only want the most expensive iPhones, but also want them as early as possible.

Vietnam is this year in Apple’s priority markets list, which means the first delivery was scheduled only seven days after the company began delivering to its most important markets.

While the official delivery date was set for Sep. 27 in Vietnam, some customers paid up to VND79 million for the iPhone 16 Pro on Sep. 20 for devices hand carried by plane from Apple’s tier-one markets.

This means consumers paid 40% more to own the flagship smartphone just seven days before it arrived in Vietnam.

"Many Vietnamese consider Apple’s latest iPhone an expensive gift, and so want to buy it as early as possible to make the gift as valuable as possible," Le Hieu, a smartphone store owner in Hanoi, explained.

Many small retailers have been earning most of their revenues from selling iPhones early for years.

This their modus operandi: They travel to Hong Kong, Singapore, the U.S., Japan or South Korea to buy the phones and resell them in Vietnam for double the price.

A source told VnExpress that Apple would ship 121,000 iPhone 16s to Vietnam in the first batch of delivery, similar to the iPhone 15 number last year.

Around 60% of them have been handed over to customers since last weekend.