Tomorrow Apple is going to start accepting pre-orders for the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus. Both new smartphones will be shipped in quite a few markets starting September 19th. China has not made the list this time around. There’s speculation that certification issues may have caused the delay for iPhone 6 release in China. A delay would give the country’s notorious grey market the chance to make a hefty profit on iPhone 6 units which will be sold for far more than the official retail price.
Apple countered the grey market last year by releasing the iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c in China on the very day it was released in Western markets like the United States, Germany and the United Kingdom. Things are evidently different this time around.
The company has focused a lot on pushing its smartphones in China, which is the world’s biggest smartphone market, over the past year. All three major carriers in China now officially sell the iPhone which resulted in a 50 percent year-on-year rise in iPhone sales in the country. The company would have wanted to keep the momentum going with the release of its latest smartphones but looks like certification issues threw a wrench in the works.
There’s speculation in the Chinese media that Apple has not received certification from China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. Until it grants certification a new smartphone cannot be sold in the country. Apple has not confirmed when the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus will finally be released in China.
A check of the MIIT’s website revealed it has not yet granted certification to new iPhones, it publicly reveals this information for all smartphones, so until that happens Apple fans in China will have to turn to the grey market for their iPhone 6 fix.
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