iPhone 6s, 6s Plus in rose gold caters to Chinese demand: Cook

The new iPhone 6s and 6s Plus in rose gold have drawn significant attention in China already, according to a news report, with the new colour aimed at making an impact on the oversaturated smartphone market in China.

"I hope Chinese consumers will like it [the rose gold colour]," said Apple's CEO Tim Cook in an exclusive interview with Sina news.

Offering the new colour was a commercial decision, Apple having taken consideration of the Chinese market and deemed the colour would become popular there, much like when the gold option was added to its stable of smartphones and China saw an upswing in demand.

The release of gold-coloured iPhones led the current trend, with the introduction of rose gold likely to duplicate the success and seize the attention of Chinese women in particular, according to the Sina report.

Chinese demand for the new iPhone 6s and 6s Plus is unlikely to disappoint Cook, in spite of the fierce competition from low-cost Chinese smartphone manufacturers; already, grey importers have set much higher asking prices to import the iPhone 6s to mainland China for consumers there -- especially for the rose gold model.

A digital products vendor in Shenzhen, China, said he has set aside 1 million yuan ($156,800) to purchase and import around 10 sets of the iPhone 6s upon its earlier release in Hong Kong, believing that grey import activities on the rose gold iPhone 6s will be extremely common within the first week of its release, according to an Apple Daily report.

Ordering prices through non-official channels of the 16GB and 64GB iPhone 6s are now between 16,800 yuan and 18,800 yuan ($2,634 to $2,948) in China, and an addition of 3,000 yuan ($470) will be charged for the rose gold models, said the report.

This contrasts with the official online Apple Store price tags of 5,288 yuan and 6,088 yuan ($829 to $955) in China.

However, ordering from other regions will not be necessary for long during this iPhone release, as China, Apple's largest overseas market, is this time among the list of the first-batch countries to sell the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus.