Having experienced declining iPhone sales in the Asia Pacific region, Apple is confident that the iPhone X will help turn things around — although local retailers are still fearing the worst.

According to a new report, iPhone X pre-orders have exceeded one million units in China, representing more than 1/6 of the total 5.5 million+ units supposedly already demanded by customers. Those kind of brisk sales are good for Apple, but sources in the Taiwanese retail channels think that this kind of “phenomenal demand” could soon fade away.

While the iPhone X has so far received solid-to-good reviews, the issue comes down to the price being charged for Apple’s already expensive flagship handset. Retail prices in Taiwan are in the region of $199 higher than they are in the U.S., in a country where the average salary is significantly lower than the U.S.

The early pre-orders for the iPhone X are good news, but don’t necessarily reflect wider interest in the product, so much as enthusiasm from early adopters. As a result, retailers fear the interest in the iPhone X could quickly drop off.

This isn’t the first time we’ve heard concern about the price of the iPhone X in Greater China, which made up roughly 18 percent of Apple’s iPhone sales in the quarter ending July. On popular Chinese social media service Weibo, mentions of the next-gen iPhone X have been higher than comparable mentions of the iPhone 7 before its launch, but lower than those for the iPhone 6 prior to its debut.

In the past, Tim Cook has talked about how Apple views Greater China as its future biggest market, and how the company designs all of its products with the Chinese audience in mind. If the iPhone X proves less successful in that market, it will be interesting to see if this has any knock-on effects in the future.

Source: cult of mac