Dubai: Online retailers in the UAE are seeing big demand for unlocked iPhone 5S in gold from nationals in the UAE and other Gulf countries. But consumers need to shell out an extra Dh3,918 to get their hands on the 16GB gold iPhone for same day delivery.
The original price of 16GB iPhone 5S is $649, $749 for 32GB and $849 for 64GB while the 16GB 5C is $549 and $649 for 32GB.
“We have bookings for around 250 pieces, mostly 5S. We are takings bookings for gold colour only for Thursday and the price is Dh5,900 for 32GB. If customers want delivery on the same day then the price is Dh6,300 for 16GB,” Naushad Pava, customer service agent at mygsm.me, told Gulf News.
He said that silver and black colours are available and we have around 25 gold iPhones. “We sold a few units to Saudi Arabia from the UAE,” Pava said.
He said customers can pay Dh300 and book iPhones for gold or silver colours.
Many online retailers are selling the 5S 16GB model for around Dh4600 and 32GB for Dh5400 and 64GB for Dh6200. The 16GB 5C is sold for Dh2699 and 32GB 5C for Dh3200.
The iPhone 5C comes in green, strawberry pink, sky blue, lemon yellow, white and black colours while 5S comes in silver, gold, and space grey colours.
The demand for iPhones in the grey market is strong in the UAE even though the phone will be officially launched by end of November or first week of December.
“Apple’s popular video-calling application FaceTime is blocked on phones sold through official channels but the phones sold in the grey market have all the features unlocked,” said Sheriff Rizwan, CEO and founder of AlShop.com.
He said AlShop was the first in the UAE to start delivering the devices on Friday itself.
“We got around 1300 pre-orders for both 5S and 5C. The gold colour is facing shortage in the US itself. We got a few units of 64GB gold. Everybody wants gold colour,” he said.
“We got some units in and some customers will get the units today and a lot more tomorrow. We got only space grey at the moment and it is impossible to get the gold and silver colours. It is not available at the Apple stores at the moment,” said Omar Kassim, CEO and founder of JadoPado.
“We got all the colours on 5C. Gold colour is much in demand and the premium is high right now. JadoPado got the iPhones from Asia. We should get stocks later today from US and Europe because of the time difference,” he said.
