iPhone水貨在中國降價 蘋果"錢"景堪憂

HONG KONG — When Apple’s latest iPhones went on sale this month in Hong Kong, Singapore and New York, among the hip urbanites and tech-obsessed was another group clamoring for the devices: Chinese scalpers looking to make a premium by flipping the phones to smugglers.

香港——本月，當蘋果公司(Apple)最新款的iPhone在香港、新加坡和紐約發售時，爭相購買的除了時尚的都市精英和科技迷外，還有一個羣體：希望通過將手機倒賣給走私客賺取差價的中國黃牛黨。

But the gray market for the new iPhones has already dried up, even though they will not officially go on sale in China for a few weeks, at the earliest.

儘管新款iPhone最早也要幾周後才能在中國大陸正式發售，但它的灰色市場已經崩塌了。

Wholesalers who helped orchestrate the smuggling of tens of thousands of the phones into the country are now slashing prices to move inventory. At an electronics market in central Beijing, one retailer was recently selling the low-end iPhone 6 and 6 Plus for 6,500 renminbi to 8,800 renminbi ($1,060 to $1,436), down from 12,000 renminbi to 15,000 renminbi ($1,960 to $2,450) just after the release.

爲了處理庫存，之前幫助安排數萬部新款iPhone偷運進中國的批發商正在大舉降價。在北京市中心的一處電子市場，一名零售商最近在以6500元到8800元的價格，銷售低配版的iPhone 6和iPhone 6 Plus，而剛開始發售時，它們的價格是1.2萬元到1.5萬元。

“Stocks of the iPhone 6 are way too high right now,” said one wholesaler of smuggled iPhones in Beijing’s northwestern tech hub Zhongguancun.

“現在iPhone 6的存貨太多了，”一名銷售水貨iPhone的批發商說。他在位於北京西北部的科技中心中關村做生意。

The smugglers’ experience represents the new reality for Apple in China.

走私客的遭遇，代表着蘋果在中國面臨的新現實。

Four years ago, the iPhone 4 was a status symbol, with the black market booming before the product was officially introduced. Today, the iPhone is simply one option among many, as local companies like Xiaomi and Meizu Technology rival Apple in terms of coolness while charging less than half the price.

四年前，iPhone 4是身份的象徵，在大陸市場正式發售前，黑市就頗爲繁榮。如今，小米和魅族等中國本土手機在酷炫方面堪比蘋果，而價錢卻不足蘋果的一半，於是iPhone淪爲衆多選擇中的一個。

A spokeswoman for Apple declined to comment on the smuggling.

蘋果的女發言人拒絕對走私問題置評。

The primary route the iPhones have taken into China is via Hong Kong, according to the wholesaler, who declined to be identified because of the illegality of some parts of the operations. Scalpers organize Hong Kong customers with local identity cards to preorder phones that the scalpers then collect outside the store, paying about $325 extra per phone. The phones are then smuggled to wholesalers in Guangdong, across the border from Hong Kong, and from there are shipped to cities across China.

據前述批發商稱，iPhone進入中國的主要路線是經過香港。因爲部分生意並不合法，此人拒絕公開姓名。黃牛黨組織香港的消費者用當地的身份證件預訂手機，再每部加價大約2000元人民幣，在店外收購。然後，手機被偷運至與香港毗鄰的廣東省的批發商手裏，然後再被運至全國各地。

When the prices were high, early last week, the wholesaler said he was making more than $163 per sale. But his profit margins have dissolved as prices have fallen. “This year the scalpers’ losses will be big,” he said.

這名批發商說，上週伊始價格尚處於高位時，他每賣出一部手機獲利上千。但隨着價格的走低，他的利潤空間消失了。“今年，黃牛的損失會很大，”他說。

China is a fast-growing market for Apple, which competes with Samsung for control in the high-end smartphone segment. In January, Apple brokered a long-delayed deal with the country’s largest telecom company, China Mobile, which has helped bolster sales. The largest smartphone market in the world, China accounted for 15.9 percent of Apple’s revenue in the last quarter.

對正在與三星(Samsung)爭奪高端智能手機細分市場控制權的蘋果來說，中國是一個增長迅速的市場。今年1月，蘋果與中國最大的電信公司中國移動達成了一項推遲已久的協議，從而助推了銷售額的增長。作爲全世界最大的智能手機市場，中國在蘋果上季度的營收中所佔比例爲15.9%。

The new models will help Apple solidify its position in the country. In China there are about 50 million iPhone users, according to Kitty Fok, a managing director of the research firm IDC. She estimates that the company will sell about four million phones a month as customers swap their old iPhones for the new ones.

新產品將有助於蘋果鞏固在中國的地位。調研企業國際數據公司(IDC)的執行董事霍錦潔(Kitty Fok)稱，中國有大約5000萬iPhone用戶。她估計，隨着消費者將手中的iPhone升級換代，蘋果公司每月會賣出大約400萬部手機。

But both Apple and Samsung face stiff competition from local brands, which have been offering cheaper phones with high-end features. As Samsung’s sales slipped this year, the company was replaced by Xiaomi as the country’s largest smartphone maker, according to the market research firm Canalys.

不過，蘋果和三星都面臨着來自中國本土品牌的激烈競爭。這些國內廠商一直在以更便宜的價格提供具有高端功能的手機。市場調研公司Canalys稱，隨着三星銷量的下滑，小米今年已經取而代之，成爲中國最大的智能手機生產商。

“The local players aren’t only playing the price game,” Ms. Fok said. “They have products that cater to the local market, big screen sizes, optimized connectivity for China and dual SIM cards.”

“本土參與者並不只是在玩價格遊戲，”霍錦潔說。“他們有迎合本土市場的產品，大屏、爲中國度身定製的優化聯接，以及雙卡雙待功能。”

The Chinese government is not making things any easier. An intensifying crackdown on corruption in the country has led officials, who in the past were known to spend big on luxury products like iPhones, to tamp down on lavish purchases.

中國政府也沒有讓蘋果的日子好過。中國正加大打擊腐敗的力度，導致過去出了名地會在iPhone等奢侈品上大肆揮霍的官員，不敢再那麼大手大腳。

The government has also signaled that it would take measures to curb government reliance on electronics made by foreign companies after disclosures by the former National Security Agency contractor Edward J. Snowden about United States government surveillance. In a statement issued this month, Apple’s chief executive, Timothy D. Cook, said the company had never cooperated with the government of any country to provide access to customer data.

在國家安全局(National Security Agency)前承包商僱員愛德華·J·斯諾登(Edward J. Snowden)揭露美國政府的監控項目後，中國政府還釋放了信號，將採取措施抑制政府對外國企業出產的電子設備的依賴。蘋果首席執行官蒂莫西·D·庫克(Timothy D. Cook)本月發表聲明稱，公司從未與任何國家的政府合作，提供客戶數據。

At a conference this month, Wei Jianguo, the director general of the China Center for International Economic Exchanges, said that the Shanghai government had told its employees to use Huawei phones instead of phones produced by Apple or Samsung, according to a transcript posted on the news portal Sohu, one of the sponsors of the event.

新聞門戶網站搜狐發佈的文字記錄顯示，在本月的一次會議上，中國國際經濟交流中心祕書長魏建國表示，上海政府要求工作人員使用華爲手機，不再使用蘋果或三星手機。搜狐是會議的贊助商之一。

Three government officials in Shanghai and Beijing said they had not heard about any formal notice to stop using foreign phones and said many in their departments still used iPhones. One of the officials in Beijing, however, said people in his office refrained from bringing in Apple computers or iPads, because they are a more conspicuous display of wealth.

上海和北京的三名政府官員表示，他們均沒有收到有關停止使用外國手機的任何正式通知，並稱他們所在部門的很多工作人員仍在用iPhone。但其中一名北京的官員表示，他們辦公室的人不再帶着蘋果電腦或iPad上班了，因爲這是比較顯眼的炫富行爲。

Out of the gate, Apple is already a step behind with the iPhone 6. Last year, the company released the latest model in China at the same time it did in the United States, Japan and parts of Europe. This year, the release has been delayed as Apple awaits government approval, an often slow and unpredictable process.

從一開始，蘋果就在iPhone 6的發售上慢了半拍。去年，公司同時在中國、美國、日本及部分歐洲國家發售新款手機。今年，蘋果卻推遲了在中國的出貨時間，因爲要等待政府的批准，而這通常是一個緩慢且不可預測的過程。

The iPhone 6 is likely to get the final license before China’s National Day celebrations on Oct. 1, according to a person with knowledge of the plans who works for one of China’s state-owned telecom providers. If that happens, the new models will most likely begin selling in China a few weeks later.

據在中國某家國有電信運營商任職的一名知情人士透露，iPhone 6很可能會在10月1日的國慶節之前獲得最終的許可。如果確實如此，新款iPhone極可能會於幾周後在中國開售。

The delay gives the smugglers a bit more time to get rid of their stock.

延期發售給了走私客多一點處理存貨的時間。

The recent scene at the electronics market in Beijing — a multistory mall crowded with stalls of vendors selling everything from calculators and hard drives to surveillance cameras and smartphones — was not encouraging. Only a few customers browsed in the narrow walkways.

最近，北京的這座電子市場並不景氣。這是一家多層商場，佈滿出售各種設備的攤位，計算器、硬盤、監控攝像機、智能手機，不一而足。只有少數幾名顧客在狹窄的通道中逛着。

No stalls openly displayed the new iPhones. On request, the vendors could procure the devices from a wholesaler. One vendor said the market for the phones was far worse than in past years but said he hoped a new crackdown on smuggling by customs officers would help push their price back up.

沒有商家公開兜售新款iPhone。如果有顧客要買，商販就去批發商那裏拿貨。一名小販表示，iPhone的市場行情比過去幾年差多了，但他表示，希望海關新一輪的打擊走私的行動會在一定程度上推動價格回升。

In recent days, Hong Kong’s marine police have played a cat-and-mouse game with smugglers who use speedboats to take iPhones into China. On Thursday night, the police ran off several men in a mangrove swamp loading boxes of iPhones into a flat wooden boat that would ferry them out to a nearby speedboat. They seized 286 iPhones, according to a statement from Hong Kong customs. In other instances, customs has found hundreds of phones concealed in the axles of trucks and in hidden compartments in cars.

最近幾天，香港水警與利用快艇向內地運送iPhone的走私客玩起了貓捉老鼠的遊戲。週四夜間，警方發現，幾名男性正在紅樹林沼澤地裏往平底木船上搬運裝有iPhone的箱子，準備用它再運送到停在附近的快艇上。香港海關發表聲明稱，截獲了286部iPhone。其他的例子包括，海關曾在卡車輪軸及汽車隱祕廂體中發現了數以百計的手機。

A report from China’s state-run Xinhua news service said the government would auction off 2,000 iPhone 6s it had seized in the southern city of Shenzhen.

中國官方媒體新華社的一則報道稱，政府將拍賣在南部城市深圳查獲的2000部iPhone 6。

The vendor at the electronics market said that one way smugglers skirted the stricter enforcement was to walk the phones across the border two at a time. Usually those crossing the border take the phones out of the packaging to convince customs officials that the phones are their own, he said.

前述電子市場的小販表示，走私客避開嚴格執法行動的辦法是，一次帶兩部手機過關。他表示，水客通常會拆除手機的包裝，比便讓海關人員相信，手機是他們自己的。

Tearing off the plastic on what appeared to be an unopened iPhone 6, he showed how the screen was already dotted with the fingerprints of whoever brought it into China.

他撕掉了看似尚未開封的iPhone 6外面的塑料包裝，展示了手機屏幕，指出上面已經留下了將手機帶入內地的人的指紋。

“Right now at our market you won’t find a phone that is actually in its original packaging,” he said.

他說，“在我們市場，現在你找不到任何一部真正是原包裝的手機。”