A youth buys an iPhone from Dubai Mall.

Hamdi Saad, Gulf Today

Once again, as an annual ritual, thousands flocked to the main Apple stores around the world on Friday, the date of delivery of the new iPhone phones, to those who had reserved to obtain the iPhone 15.

iPhone fever renews every year from China to America, passing through the Emirates, India, Europe and the rest of the world.

In the main store in China, which is located in the center of the capital, Beijing, thousands lined up on Friday morning to obtain the latest iPhone, despite market fears that nationalist enthusiasm would weaken the American company’s sales in China.

For its part, JD said that as of 10 am Beijing time, sales of the “iPhone 15” through the Dada application for delivery within one hour had increased by 253% compared to sales of the “iPhone 14” last year.

In the first 10 minutes after deliveries began at 8 am, the company said 25,000 phones were on their way to customers. Dada said this year that it is working with 4,600 authorized Apple retailers in China - up from 500 in 2020.

Apple began delivering the iPhone 15 on Friday, in 40 cities around the world, after pre-orders began on September 15. This year's release comes as the smartphone giant faces economic and political headwinds in its third-largest market, China.

In Mumbai, the situation was not much different, although queues were not usual in front of the new Apple stores there, and visitors began rushing to buy a smartphone in Apple stores in the Indian business capital.

In Dubai, the young Indian man, Sayed Fawas, from the state of Kerala, obtained the first two unit of the iPhone 15 phone from the Apple store in Dubai Mall, among thousands who flocked from Thursday evening to the company’s stores in both Mall of the Emirates.

Fawas spend the night among thousands of iPhone lovers who had flocked since Thursday afternoon to the company’s stores in the main distribution center.

Thousands of people waited in front of Apple stores in the Dubai Mall and Mall of the Emirates to receive the new phone on Friday morning, amid great efforts from the management of the two shopping centers and Apple to organize the delivery process according to the priority of reservation and the availability of supply for purchase from the stores.

The UAE was among the first countries in the world to provide the iPhone in the company’s stores in the country, in both Dubai Mall and Mall of the Emirates in Dubai and Galleria Mall in Abu Dhabi, which in turn witnessed hundreds of buyers rushing in on the first day of delivery.

Through the iPhone 15, Apple seeks to restore growth momentum in sales, amid strong competition in the global phone market, especially from Samsung, Huawei, and other Chinese brands.

For its part, the companies Etisalat from E&D and Du announced the sale of the “iPhone 15” phone through their websites or branches spread throughout the country on an immediate payment system or in installments.

Also, many electronics stores in the Emirates and e-commerce sites announced the availability of the new phone, but in limited quantities until Apple provides the phone in larger quantities.