Preliminary numbers show strong iPhone SE interest in China with 3.4 million pre-orders

iPhone SE family back

Apple’s new four-inch iPhone SE could prove very popular in China, Apple’s second largest market in terms of revenue, as launch weekend pre-orders from retailers have topped an estimated 3.4 million units, said CNBC on Monday. Data from local retailers reveals that Gold and Rose Gold are the most popular colorways among buyers in China. Those are preliminary figures: Apple has not publicly boasted about iPhone SE pre-orders as of yet.

“Last checked, when we looked at Chinese retailer sites, pre-orders exceeded 3.4 million,” as per CNBC, with Gold being the top color and Rose Gold being “a close second.”

In the United States, the iPhone SE is priced at $399, making it the most affordable iPhone the company has created to date. In China, the device costs the equivalent of $550 American dollars. It’s unclear how the iPhone SE will do in China in the long run because Chinese customers prefer larger-screened devices.

In various surveys, about one-third of iPhone owners said they prefer the smaller four-inch size. Apple sold about thirty million four-inch iPhones in 2015 alone and analysts are expecting from 10 million to 15 million additional iPhone sales this year thanks to the introduction of the iPhone SE and the upcoming iPhone refresh in the fall.

The iPhone SE is landing on store shelves on Thursday, March 31, following pre-orders in thirteen major territories, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany and Japan. Apple has promised to aggressively roll out the device in more than a hundred markets by May.

Source: CNBC