This year Apple, the U.S. company that makes the iPhone, had instructed authorized retailers to wait until Friday before selling in Vietnam. Retailers faced fines of up to VND2 billion ($83,559) if their iPhone 14 phones got activated before that date.
However, in order to become the earliest reseller, many of them allowed people to come in and wait Thursday night to take delivery.
Hundreds of people began to queue up outside F.Studio in Hanoi from 9 p.m. Thursday.
The store started checking orders and taking at 10 p.m.
A spokesperson for the network said interest for the iPhone 14 was unprecedented, with over 80,000 pre-orders being made. Its stores delivered over 5,100 phones to customers after midnight.
One of the first people to get an iPhone 14 Pro Max was Anh Viet of Dong Da District.
He said he has used the brand for a long time, and placed an order as soon as registration opened without giving much thought to configuration or new features.
"I think there are some neat new features on the newest iPhone. Until I get my hands on the gadget, I won't know how the actual experience will be."
Many customers had to queue for three or four hours.
Retailers in HCMC, including stores like ShopDunk, used the opportunity to host product demonstrations for the hundreds of buyers who had gathered.
Another retailer, wanting to make an impression, used a drone to deliver the phone to the first customer.
ShopDunk spokesperson Pham Tuan Anh said there were 7,500 orders with the iPhone 14 Pro Max accounting for 86% of that.
The phones would be shipped Friday to around 2,800 buyers around the country, he added.
Minh Tuan Mobile, one of Apple's authorized dealers, has a warehouse full of iPhone 14 phones waiting for delivery.
A spokesman said the first 500 customers in line at could get delivery after midnight and the rest could pick them up at local stores from 8 a.m. Friday.
The iPhone 14's competitive pricing is a major selling point. While there has been no change in the list price since last year, retailers offer discounts of up to VND5 million ($207.08) on pre-orders, credit cards and traded-in old phones.
Distributor TopZone said orders for the iPhone 14 were double that of the iPhone 13.
The first week saw the chain receive 70,000 orders, with 50% making a deposit.
