Indian man flies to Singapore to buy new iPhone 8 for daughter

Moneycontrol News 

An Indian businessman travelled all the way to Singapore to get an iPhone 8 for his daughter as a wedding gift.

Mr Amin Ahmed Dholiya, 43, was the first in line outside the Apple store in Orchard Road on Thursday at 7 pm to get his hands on the new smartphone which hit the shelves on Sunday, as per a report in Singapore daily Straits Times.

When the store opened at 8 am on Sunday, there were some 200 people, including many people from Thailand, Vietnam also in the queue. Dholiya returned home last night, according to the Singapore daily.

"Foreigners have a bigger reason to queue up and buy at the Apple store here because the new devices have not yet been launched in their countries and many of them may have to buy the phones without contract even when the phones are launched back home," said Kiranjeet Kaur, a senior research manager for client devices at market research firm IDC Asia-Pacific.

The new iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus were the first major products launched at the store since it opened in May.

"I will buy two, one for my other daughter. This is my first time queueing overnight for something - I am feeling good now but it will be hard to stand all night," the businessman said on Thursday.

Apple has announced the iPhone 8 and the larger 5.5-inch iPhone 8 Plus on September 12.