Amid soaring demand for the "super premium" iPhone X in India, Apple premium resellers in the Dehli-NCR region kept their fingers crossed as the initial supply of handsets were yet to reach them.
The authorised Apple resellers told IANS that they have received a frenzied response for iPhone X that is being advertised as arriving in India on November 3.
Pre-booking for the device at a premium reseller in Gurugram exceeded all expectations.
"First booking slot for iPhone X is full and we are now asking users to pre-book the device for the second slot. But we still do not know when the iPhone X will arrive in our stock," Jeevan from Imagine Store, an Apple premium reseller in Gurugram, told IANS.
"Users can pre-order the device by paying Rs 3,000 in cash which will be refunded if the devices are not handed over to them on time or something goes wrong," he added.
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An iNvent Apple premium reseller in North Delhi said they were yet to receive iPhone X stocks.
"We have not received a single unit of iPhone X so far. We do not know if they have been already shipped or not. The devices are expected to reach us the day it goes on sale or maybe a day before. For iPhone 8 and 8 Plus, we had received the stock earlier," a sales representative from iNvent told IANS.
"Since it is a global launch, we feel that even those who booked the device in the first slot may not get their desired variants within the given time-frame," he added.
The flagship device was sold out within minutes on Amazon.in.
"Apple iPhone X went on pre-order on Amazon.in on October 27. Within few minutes of the pre-orders, Apple iPhone X went out of stock," an Amazon spokesperson told IANS.
Meanwhile, disappointed by the reports of slow supply, Apple fans in the Delhi-NCR region said their decision to buy iPhone X has been hit.
"I am using iPhone 6s and was waiting desperately for a new iPhone. I waited for iPhone 8 but the user feedback was not good so I thought I would wait and pre-book iPhone X," Yatharth Sinha, an advocate with Delhi High Court, told IANS.
"Now that I have read reports of delay in iPhone X delivery, I might have to settle for iPhone 8 Plus. If iPhone X reviews are great then I will buy it later," noted Sinha, adding that he might also opt for the upcoming Samsung Galaxy S9.
Gaurav Sharma, a heavy smartphone user, said: "No, I haven't booked the device yet. I am waiting for reviews and then will take a call".
"If reviews come out good then I might buy iPhone X in January," added Shobhit Dev, a professional photographer.
iPhone X -- which also marks the 10th anniversary of the device -- will cost the users Rs 89,000 (for 64GB model) and Rs 1.02 lakh (for 256GB variant).
(Krishna SinhaChaudhury can be contacted at krishna.s@ians.in)
--IANS
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