Shoppers See iPhone 17 Pro Ad in Shanghai’s Xintiandi District on February 19, 2026
- Shoppers pass an advertisement for the iPhone 17 Pro in the Xintiandi area in Shanghai, China, on Thursday, Feb.
- The iPhone 17 series launched in mainland China on September 19, 2025, with strong consumer demand reported at flagship Apple stores in Beijing and Shanghai.
- At the Apple flagship store on Sanlitun in Beijing, staff gathered at the entrance at 8 a.m.
Shoppers pass an advertisement for the iPhone 17 Pro in the Xintiandi area in Shanghai, China, on Thursday, Feb. 19, 2026.
The iPhone 17 series launched in mainland China on September 19, 2025, with strong consumer demand reported at flagship Apple stores in Beijing and Shanghai. Long queues formed early in the morning, particularly for the orange and silver iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max models, according to reports from Chinese media outlets including The Paper and Qilu Evening News.
At the Apple flagship store on Sanlitun in Beijing, staff gathered at the entrance at 8 a.m. To count down and greet the first batch of customers who had pre-ordered for pickup. In Shanghai, customers lining up outside the Nanjing East Road store before 8 a.m. Were also seen in long queues, with on-site observations indicating over 100 people came to collect their phones on the first day.
Scalpers were offering up to an additional 1,500 yuan for stock in Beijing, reflecting high demand despite official pricing. The standard iPhone 17 with 256GB of storage was the most popular choice among buyers during pre-orders on JD.com, which reported demand exceeding the entire first-day pre-order volume of the iPhone 16 series within the first minute of sales opening on September 12, 2025.
Although the iPhone Air model was much-hyped as the thinnest iPhone ever, its release has been postponed due to ongoing regulatory reviews in China related to the use of an embedded SIM (eSIM). Analysts note that while demand for the Pro Max remains strong, the number of customers queuing for pickup in cities like Shenzhen was much lower than in previous years.
The iPhone 17 Pro Max, priced at $1,199, has been described as the most popular model in the series due to its advanced features and higher demand compared to other variants. Consumers cited upgraded imaging features as a primary draw, while loyal customers noted that unchanged pricing made the upgraded configurations worth purchasing.