Apple's iPhone 17 series goes on sale in Taiwan

Taipei, Sept. 19 (CNA) Apple's latest iPhone 17 series went on sale in Taiwan Friday, with local carriers offering early-bird incentives and some enthusiasts lining up days in advance.

The four new models -- the 6.3-inch iPhone 17, 6.5-inch iPhone Air, 6.3-inch iPhone 17 Pro and 6.9-inch iPhone 17 Pro Max -- are priced from NT$29,900 (US$993), the same starting price as last year but with double the minimum storage at 256GB.

Taiwan's major telecom operators held launch-day events in Taipei.

Chunghwa Telecom offered vouchers worth NT$3,600 to 360 customers who had registered online, including 80 who had signed up for its Taipei launch.

Meanwhile, Taiwan Mobile staged a Formula One-themed display at its flagship store at Taipei's Songshan Cultural and Creative Park, while Far EasTone offered NT$4,000 discounts off contract prices for the first 50 customers at its Taipei direct store, and similar offers at branches in Taichung and Kaohsiung.

Enthusiasts began queuing days in advance at all three major telecom operators.

At Apple's direct store in Taipei's Xinyi District, 36-year-old digital advertising worker Hsu (徐) became the first in line for the third consecutive year, arriving at 5 a.m. Friday to pick up his preordered iPhone 17 Pro Max in dark blue.

He told CNA he was most interested in the upgraded front camera that automatically rotates for horizontal selfies and the main camera's 8x optical zoom for shooting distant scenes.