Few people lined up in Beijing to buy the iphone 5, in contrast to January when the arrival of the iPhone 4S sparked pandemonium.
The iPhone5, the latest version of Apple's popular smartphone, became available to its fans on the Chinese mainland on Friday.
Apple Inc Friday officially released iPhone 5, the latest version of its iconic smartphone, in its second-largest market China.
Two Chinese telecom carriers will offer Apple Inc's latest iPhone 5 handsets in the Chinese mainland starting on Friday.
Apple Inc's ranking in the Chinese smartphone market fell to No 6 in the third quarter, as the company faced tough competition from domestic rivals.
Chinese customers will be able to pre-order the iPhone 5, Apple's latest smartphone, on Nov 20, when China Telecom - Apple's official partner - will open reservations for the device.
Apple seems to begin losing its dominance in the global smart phones market to Samsung, as Samsung Galaxy phones are overshadowing iPhones in the lucrative China market.
China Unicom expects to begin selling Apple Inc's latest iPhones this year and has set an ambitious target of having 100 million 3G users by end-2012.
Suning Appliance Co, China biggest electronics retailer, said consumers can pre-order Apple Inc's iPhone 5 at its Beijing stores starting Nov 5.
Employees at Shenzhen's newly opened Apple store cheer and give presents to customers as they enter the store on Nov 3, 2012. Apple opened its 7th store on the Chinese mainland in the southern boomtown of Shenzhen on Nov 3. Apple fans were enthusiastic about the new store, forming long lines before its opening. Some customers had to wait for half an hour before they could enter the store.
Despite mixed reactions upon its launch, the iPhone 5 has become a hot ticket item and is in short enough supply to have created a market for scalpers on the Chinese mainland and in Hong Kong.
Apple Inc's latest handset, the iPhone 5, is expected to be on sale in China by December, according to a statement from Tim Cook in a report.
Apple Inc is expected to open a new store in downtown Beijing, its third in the city and sixth on the Chinese mainland, on Oct 20.
Apple Inc, the most valuable US company, still shows an indifferent attitude toward the Chinese mainland, soon to be the world's largest smartphone market.
Samsung Electronics, the world's No 1 smartphone maker, launched on Wednesday its latest Galaxy device as part of efforts to better compete with Apple's newly released iPhone 5.
It took little more than five hours for the first Apple iPhone 5 to go on sale in the Chinese mainland after being smuggled across the border from Hong Kong.
Purchase restrictions that Apple Inc has placed on its latest iPhone are likely to have a major impact on unauthorized resellers when the devices go on sale.
Out of more than 36,000 respondents, about 48.1 percent said they would "not buy the iPhone 5" in an online survey by Sina, China's major web portal.
Chinese vendors started to dump old versions of the iPhones, in preparation for sales of the new one.
Apple Inc took the wraps off its fastest, thinnest iPhone on Wednesday, packing a significant larger screen and 4G capability on the fifth version of the smartphone.
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