San Francisco Sep 23 (IANS) As the sale of iPhone 8 and 8 Plus began in several countries on Friday queues outside Apple Stores were shorter than previous years and the growing craze to own "super premium" iPhone X is likely to be the reason media reported.
The various Apple Stores across the world reportedly saw a lot thinner crowd far fewer than last year s iPhone 7 launch tech website CNET reported on Saturday.
Most people seem to be holding out for the crown jewel of this year s iPhone series launched -- the iPhone X costliest of them all with price starting at $999.
Even on home turf the Apple Store at San Francisco s Union Square did not perform well.
"A 38-year old tourist from Brazil Thais Aguilar was contemplating whether to get an iPhone 8 before she flies back home Saturday. After a while she decided to wait to buy an iPhone X back home and pay possibly three times as much as the $999 price in the US " the report added.
Instead Aguilar opted to buy Apple Watch Series 3. "Many other customers also seemed to prefer buying Apple Watches instead of iPhone 8 and 8 Plus the report added.
This confirms earlier reports that iPhone X will cannibalise iPhone 8 orders.
"While it takes three to six weeks or more to ship new iPhone models after they are available for preorder they see the iPhone 8 taking less than one to two weeks. This is due to the iPhone X cannibalisation " Ming-Chi Kuo the most famous Apple analyst with KGI Securities said earlier this week.
Ming however said the new Apple Watch Series 3 s (GPS + Cellular version) could be a runaway hit.
"We estimate the preorder weighting of the GPS + Cellular version is 80-90 per cent. While not available in all countries most users have pre-ordered the GPS + Cellular version because it offers phone and internet access functions without an iPhone and given the low premium of $70 over the GPS version " the analyst had predicted.
iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus were made available from September 22 in the US Australia Canada China France Germany Hong Kong Singapore the UAE the UK and other countries.
Apple would launch iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus starting Rs 64 000 in India on September 29 while pre-bookings started on September 22.
The iPhone X will come to India on November 3 starting Rs 89 000.
Apple Watch is available in two different case sizes 38mm and 42mm from September 29 in India.
Apple Watch Series 3 (GPS) will be available in gold silver and space grey aluminium cases with a Sport Band starting at Rs 29 900.
--IANS
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