Thousands of Vietnamese preorder iPhone 11 models

Major smartphone seller Mobile World said on its website that 2,097 people have put down deposits of VND1 million ($43) each at the time of writing for either the iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro or iPhone 11 Pro Max models.

Another smartphone chain, FPT Shop, also reported 1,844 people putting down deposits for the three models.

The two authorized resellers of Apple phones are scheduled to deliver the phones on November 11.

Industry insiders say that iPhone 11, released in the U.S. earlier this month, are in higher demand than the flagship iPhone XS which was introduced last year.

Last Friday, an estimated 500 people, most of them Vietnamese, queued up in Singapore to buy the iPhone 11, some of them for 30 hours.

Vietnamese are also buying the new iPhones from Hong Kong to resell them in their country for a higher price before the official release.

The iPhone 11 starts at $699 in the U.S. and is being sold 37 percent higher at local shops in Vietnam, while the iPhone 11 Pro, starting at $999, is being sold 45 percent higher.

Statistics released by Google earlier showed that the iPhone 11 was most sought after in the world by Vietnamese internet users. At midnight of September 10, when Apple introduced the iPhone 11, the search volume for the phone in the country rose by 500 percent compared to the previous 24 hours.

Apple’s iPhone had a 6.4 percent market share in Vietnam in July, putting it behind Samsung, Oppo and Xiaomi, according to market research firm GfK.