The iPhone 13 has hit stores in Taiwan and around the world. Preorders were strong for this latest generation of Apple''s smartphone. Taiwan''s top telecom operators don''t see COVID hurting sales. They say demand will be stronger this year than the year before, due to the upcoming launch of the government''s stimulus vouchers.

Taiwanese Olympians Kuo Hsing-chun, Huang Hsiao-wen, and Ting Hua-tien get a reaction from the crowd. At the Taiwan launch of Apple’s iPhone 13 series, each received a free smartphone courtesy of a telecom operator.

Jamie Lin
Taiwan Mobile president
It’s looking like this year’s sales will not lose out to last year. They may even surpass last year’s performance.

Chunghwa Telecom held its launch online in light of the epidemic. The company chairman agreed that sales are off to a promising start.

Sheih Chi-mau
Chunghwa Telecom chairman
The government has worked very hard and the vaccination coverage rate is very high. I do not think the epidemic will have an adverse effect on iPhone 13 sales.

A Luzhou local surnamed Liu set up camp at this Far EasTone storefront the night before the launch. He says he’s bought every generation of the iPhone since the beginning of time.

Ching Chee
Far EasTone president
Although there were slightly fewer preorders this year compared to the last, we still had the expected volume – we still met our expectations.

Asia Pacific Telecom said supply constraints did not affect its first wave of iPhone 13 sales. The series’ new and improved features have driven strong early demand, it said.

Teng Mei-hui
Asia Pacific Telecom deputy head of sales
Because of the supply and the phone’s improved functionality, preorders have doubled from last year.

As for Taiwan Star Telecom, it’s looking forward to a boost from Quintuple Stimulus Vouchers.

Shing Chu
Taiwan Star Telecom vice president
Although deliveries did coincide with the epidemic this year, sales numbers are looking much better than last year’s. So we believe that with the rollout of the Quintuple Stimulus Vouchers, sales will increase by about 20% over the product life cycle.

Some shoppers queued at stores, while others took to the internet. One e-commerce platform is offering two-hour deliveries in the greater Taipei area.

Member of public
It arrived very quickly. I ordered at 8 o''clock this morning and it arrived at 10 o''clock.

Wan Yueh-wei
E-Life Mall
The fastest delivery in the greater Taipei area was 85 minutes.

Another vendor offered phone accessories for NT$1 to win over shoppers.

Huang Li-jung
Vendor
We set up preorders after the product announcement. So far, preorders have been 1.5 times that of last year’s preorders for the iPhone 12.

On the first day of sales, the industry is buzzing as it seizes business opportunities from Apple’s latest offering.