Thailand will get its chance to buy the iPhone 6 at regular prices Oct 24 when Apple Corp officially brings its latest two devices to retailers and mobile-phone operators in the kingdom, an industry source said Tuesday.
Currently only available via grey-market resellers at exorbitant prices, the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus will go on sale on Apple's online store, mobile operators and distributors at prices ranging from 25,500 baht to 37,300 baht, according to a source at a major Thai information-technology distributor. Apple itself has not confirmed the release date.
The 4.7-inch iPhone 6 will sell for 25,500 baht for a version with 16 gigabytes of storage memory. The 64 GB model will sell for 29,400 baht and the 128 GB version for 33,400 baht, the source said.
The 5.5-inch iPhone 6 Plus "phablet" will start at 29,400 baht for the 16 GB version, 33,400 baht for the 64 GB model and 37,300 baht for the top-of-the-line 128 GB iPhone 6 Plus.
The IT distributor acknowledged - but could not explain why - prices supplied to him were higher than what the iPhone models sell for in the US, based on current exchange rates. The quoted retail prices for the iPhone 6 are also higher than historically charged for iPhone 4S and iPhone 5S models with the same amount of storage.
Another industry source said this week that Thailand could have been among the countries to receive the iPhone 6 the first day it launched, Sept 19, worldwide. But he said public comments by an official at the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission confirming the existence of the iPhone 6 a month before its launch dashed those chances.
NBTC secretary-general Takorn Tantasith announced that the NBTC had approved Apple's application to distribute two models - identified only by number - and then, on Aug 12, tweeted the news. Apple, notoriously secretive about unannounced products, demanded an immediate meeting with Mr Takorn and, according to the Thai industry source, booted Thailand down the launch list.
Thirty-one other markets will have received the latest iPhones before Thailand if it indeed does launch here on Oct 24. China gets the devices on Oct 17.
The IT industry source suggested Apple may not have retaliated against the NBTC, however. He said the delay could be caused by the extremely constrained supplies of the iPhone 6 Plus, which have sold out in nearly every market. Apple reportedly is having trouble meeting manufacturing goals for the handset, which has been more popular than the 4.7-inch model.