An iPhone 15 Pro Max brought from overseas is now sold at around VND40 million (US$1,650) in Vietnam, down 20% in three days.
Smartphone shops in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City on September 26 offered the VND40 million price for 256GB storage option. Higher storage options of 512GB and 1TB cost VND45 million and VND58 million, respectively.
Traders queued up to buy the product at Apple stores in Singapore and Thailand and brought them to Vietnam unofficially.
The first ones were available on Friday last week, one week before they are sold officially in Vietnam, at prices around VND70 million, or nearly 50% higher than official prices in Vietnam.
Nguyen Hieu, owner of an unofficial Apple shop in Hanoi, said that he had anticipated the drop in prices this year as the iPhone is sold in Vietnam only one week later than Apple’s tier-1 markets, compared to several weeks in previous years.
He only bought 20 iPhone 15s to sell in the last three days.
Retail chains are reporting a shortage of the most expensive option, the iPhone 15 Pro Max, due to high demand from preorders.
Customers will have to wait until the end of October for more supply, retailers said.