iPhone 14 Officially Launched in Taiwan 開賣iPhone 14 果粉輪班排隊買新機

Apple's new iPhone officially launched on the 16th in Taiwan. This year, queues of customers seem shorter, with stock prices of Apple's component suppliers not supported by the sale. 

There was a crowd of people queuing up to pick up goods early in the morning outside Apple's flagship store in Taipei's Xinyi area. Apple's new iPhone 14 officially launched in Taiwan on Friday. Some Apple fans successfully preordered the phones on the company's official website and were able to receive the special colored iPhone 14 Pro on the first day.

Customer: “I actually changed phones last year. But this year, I think the purple color is very special. And the dynamic island function is not bad. So I changed it.”

Four of the five major Taiwanese telecom companies offered discounts for queuing up in physical stores. Domestic telecom leader Chungwa Telecom gave away earphones worth nearly NT$8,000 to the first 10 customers in line. Far EasTone, gave the first 50 customers free upgrades from 128G to 256G. In addition to giving queuing discounts, Taiwan Mobile also offered customers a chance to win a Tesla Model 3. Even with the extra discounts, the crowds in the queues don't seem as many as before.

Customer: “You can order it on Apple's official website. I book through the official website almost every year. It seems more and more uneconomical to tie up telecom contracts with the phone now, which seems to be getting more expensive.”

Tim, 3C Expert: “Their authorized dealers are advertising to customers they can deliver the phone to the customer's house in 2 hours if bought from them. Most people tend to choose the option of receiving their phone at home.”

The stock prices of Apple's supply chain companies do not seem to be supported by the new phone's launch. TSMC opened lower on the 16th and fluctuated in early trading, down nearly 1.5 percent. Hon Hai and Largan also fell by nearly 1 percent.

Liao En-ping, Assistant VP, President Futures: “The U.S. central bank keeps raising interest rates, which will have some impact on consumption. Consumers will choose lower price goods from more expensive goods. This will be a more persistent influence than before, for maybe a quarter or even two in the future.”

The U.S. Dollar has strengthened, and buying the iPhone 14 in Taiwan is NT$2,000 more expensive than in the United States. However, major e-commerce companies have also launched a subscription system for mobile phones, which is like paying monthly installments. When the contract expires, the old phone is bought back for a new one. As mobile phones get more expensive, along with inflationary pressure, this subscription system has successfully acquired another group of customers who want to change to a new phone.

台北信義遠百A13蘋果旗艦直營店，一早出現排隊取貨人潮。因為蘋果新機iPhone 14系列週五正式在台開賣。已有果粉官網成功預定，搶在16日開賣首日，就能拿到特殊色iPhone 14 Pro。

民眾說道：「我其實去年有換，但是今年覺得紫色很特別，然後動態島還不錯，所以我就換了。」

而國內5大電信業，就有4家像往年一樣，再祭出實體店排隊優惠，國內電信龍頭中華電信加碼優惠，前10名送價值近8千塊耳機。遠傳電信前50名申辦指定資費，128G免費升級256G。台灣大哥大除了送排隊優惠，還有機會抽中特斯拉Model 3。電業加碼優惠炒人氣，不過排隊人潮，似乎不如以往。

民眾表示：「反正（蘋果）官網都可以訂，我幾乎每年都是訂官網，現在電信綁約好像愈來愈不划算，愈來愈貴。」

3C達人Tim哥指出：「他們的授權經銷門市還打出，你先跟我買，2小時我就可以送到你家，一般都是選擇在家就可以拿到手機了。」

蘋果供應鏈概念股，股價似乎沒有受到新機開賣加持，早盤台積電開低走低震盪，跌幅近1.5%，鴻海、大立光股價跌幅也將近1%。

統一期貨投顧部專業協理廖恩平表示：「（美國）央行不斷升息，對於整個消費力道會有一定的衝擊，從之前比較偏高價商品轉成中低價去做一個選擇，那未來可能一個季度甚至兩個季度，是一個比較持續性的一個影響。」

因為匯率關係美元走強，在台灣購買iPhone 14，比美國貴上2000塊。不過各大電商也推出手機訂閱制，就像分期月繳，合約到期，舊機買回換新機，隨著手機價格愈來愈貴，這樣訂閱制在通膨壓力下，也成功搶下另一群想換新機的客層。