Current availability of Iphone 4 @ Singapore / Hong Kong
 

Hello!

It seems that cheapest unlocked Iphone 4's can be purchased from either of these countries. When looking at iphone.sg and iphone.hk webstores it says that Iphone 4 is currently unavailable? What is the latest situation on ground and where should i start looking for? Changi Airport or Hong Kong airport? Local malls? Any info is appreciated!

Re HKG, I don't think you will find the iphone 4 at the airport.

In general it is very hard to get the iphone 4 sim free in HK at present. Everywhere asks you to sign up to a contract plan. There are a few retailers that do sell it sim free, but they have quite a bit of a waiting list.

Seems like a similar situation in most of Asia. I was looking for an iphone 4 a couple of months ago on a trip to SIN and BKK. SIN had none to be found. I ended up buying one at one of the shops at MBK. I paid dearly for it though--28,000 THB.

It's one of the most sought after toys for nationals of China so the supply of unlocked contract free iPhone 4 is almost non-existent.

One alternative is to get one via network, eg SingTel and then cancel your contract, pay the penalty.

Im now in Singapore and Iphone 4 16gb & 32gb are available at M1-stores without contract and unlocked. 16gb price was 1050 SGD. On Apple's singaporean website the price is 888 SGD so theres a small premium on their prices. They had it in stock @ Paragon Shopping Mall in Orchard Road. Tomorrow i will check the status on Changi Airport's Apple Store.


UPDATE. It seems that Iphone 4 is easily found on Singapore. I have asked few private-vendors at various shopping malls which sell cameras,mobile-phones etc. Unlocked/without contract for 1050-1300SGD.

That's a US$126 premium, that isn't exactly a small premium.

You can also get the iphone 4 in HK in quite a few places like SSP or Wanchai if you are willing to pay such a premium.

A true FTer :) would have extended their RTW to include an Apple Store in Australia.

The 16Gb iPhone 4 is A$859 (approx S$1080), and don't forget the tourist refund at the airport of the 10% GST - so it will cost you A$859 - A$78 = A$781 = US$781 at the moment.

Where are those $600 K fares when we *need* them? :D

-David

Unfortunately i didn't had chance to visit Changi's Apple Store. I will check Hong Kong's airport situation if my transfer time allows. Note to my Singapore post: You can get 7% of the 1050 SGD by doing a vat refund at airport so the final price is 976,5 SGD.

Checked the Changi store last week--they only had the 16GB and were asking $1200 SGD. Thats even more than I paid in BKK and I thought the BKK price was crazy.

That's crazy and there are no taxes on that price.

Update: Checked Apple's store at Hong Kong airport and it was out of stock as usually. They don't even accept preorders. Prices were: 16gb 4988HKD and 32gb 5888HKD.

I will be traveling to TH, SN, HK and CN later this year. If anyone is interested in an iPhone 4 I can pick one up in the US and just break the contract. You'd probably have to jailbreak it since it would be locked to AT&T.

If you go to Apple's online store for Singapore then you'll notice that the "currently unavailable" message under the price of the iPhone 4 has changed to "2 weeks", so if you can wait a fortnight then you can get the 32 gig version at S$1,048.

They might even ship it early, as I once ordered something with a similar waiting period but got my package within a couple of days.