Limited number of iPhone 12 phones snapped up in Taiwan: online vendor

Taipei, Oct. 17 (CNA) A limited supply of two smartphone models in the newly released iPhone 12 series was sold out within seconds on the PChome 24h website in Taiwan on Friday night, the seller said.

PChome, the only authorized online seller of the two Apple Inc. models in Taiwan, was not permitted to disclose the sales numbers, but said the iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro phones were snapped up in less than a minute after they were listed for pre-order on its website at 8 p.m. Friday.

Apple unveiled its first 5G iPhone models -- the 5.4-inch iPhone 12 mini, the 6.1-inch iPhone 12, the 6.1-inch iPhone 12 Pro, and the 6.7-inch iPhone 12 Pro Max -- on Tuesday, U.S. time.

Taiwan is one of the markets included in the first round of global sales, with pre-orders for the iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro starting Friday before the phones hit store shelves on Oct. 23.

Pre-orders for the iPhone 12 mini and the iPhone 12 Pro Max will start on Nov. 6, and they will be available in stores on Nov. 13.

PChome said its next round of pre-orders for the iPhone 12 Pro and iPhone 12 will be on Oct. 23, and orders placed on that day will be delivered within 24 hours, with buyers in Taipei receiving theirs the same day.

After Apple launched its pre-order sales on its website at 8 a.m. Friday, market observers commented that demand was higher for the iPhone 12 Pro than the iPhone 12 and that the colors gold and pacific blue were the most popular.

On Oct. 14, Taiwan telecom operators began accepting pre-orders for the new iPhones.

Chunghwa Telecom said its supply was sold out within an hour, while Far EasTone Telecommunications Co. said it had received three times the number of orders than on the first day of sales of the iPhone 11 series last year.

The two telecom companies declined to disclose their sales numbers.