Apple Inc officially will bring its latest iPhone models to Thailand Oct 31, the California company announced Monday.
A customer holds an iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus at an Apple store in the United States. Apple will release both models in Thailand on Oct 31. (Reuters photo)
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 about seven weeks after it first became available and before 41 other countries go them.
Official pricing has not been announced yet. However, a source at a large Thailand IT distributor said earlier it had received pricing for both models ranging from 25,500 baht to 37,300 baht.
The 4.7-inch iPhone 6 would sell for 25,500 baht for a version with 16 gigabytes of storage memory, according to the source. 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.
Apple Monday announced the iPhone's availability in 36 markets by the end of the month, starting with China on Oct 17. South Korea and Macau will get the phones the same day as Thailand.
There was widespread speculation before the iPhone's Sept 19 launch that Thailand could have been among the countries to receive the iPhone 6 the first day it launched worldwide. But public comments by an official at the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission confirming the existence of the iPhone 6 a month before its launch might have scuttled 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.