Retailers taking iPhone 6 pre-orders; delivery by Gitex Shopper

You don’t have to wait for too long to buy your next iPhone, if you are here in the UAE. Several retailers have already made arrangements to ship in the devices within 24 hours after they are launched globally.

According to a rough timetable prepared by retailers, the device should be available by September 20 – just ahead of Gitex Shopper.

There’s nothing official from Apple yet, but it is believed that the new device will be unveiled on September 9. “Usually, it takes about 10 days for Apple to ship the devices to retail stores in select countries. Given that order, we are expecting the new device to hit UAE shores by September 20,” says Omar Kassim, CEO of online retail store JadoPado, which has already listed the device on its website.

“We are not taking pre-orders but we are allowing interested customers to register with us in case they are interested to buy the iPhone 6. We will notify them the moment the device arrives,” says Kassim.

Sources within the grey market in Dubai too informed us of the same. Many of them have already made arrangements to ship the devices from various markets including US, Europe and Singapore, where the device is expected to be first launched.

Be prepared to pay a premium though as the cost of a device is expected to be hiked up by about $200 to $300 more than the official pricing.

“We are not expecting Apple to increase the pricing pattern. So we are looking at a range between $400 to $600,” added Kassim, who said he hopes Apple officially brings new devices to the Middle East and the UAE sooner.

“Apple’s timeframe of getting into new markets is getting better. So expect the premium to not last for more than two to three weeks,” he added.

Meanwhile, as the countdown to the launch date has already started, the Internet is abuzz with rumours of new specs and image leaks of the upcoming iPhone.

The latest is an image of an iPhone6, complete with packaging. The images were apparently taken by an Apple beta tester and is in tune with various other leaks.

A Taiwanese website also posted some images of front assembly of the units.

The iPhone 6 is expected to have a bigger screen with a 4.7-inch display, an enhanced internal storage with 128 GB. Apple is also planning to enhance the camera with a 13 MP sensor compared to the current 8MP on the iPhone 5S. It is also expected that the iPhone 6 will finally come loaded with NFC, an A8 processor and possibly wireless charging.