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China Catches Smugglers Using Drones to Transport $80M Worth of iPhones From Hong Kong to Mainland
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I thought it was 2-fold issue. 1 is the phones are cheaper in HK, so they profit by moving them in and reselling, and 2 that in mainland china certain apps/features are removed that aren't removed in HK. So people want the HK version that gives them access to stuff they wouldn't otherwise have.
No features are removed on Chinese iPhone models. Hardware and software are exactly the same. Both HK and China get the best Qualcomm modem.
It’s purely a difference in price. Hong Kong is a tax free port. China has a heavy foreign tax on imported goods as Apple is a foreign company.
As an example, the difference in price for iPhone X is US$300.
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Everything from iPhone to Boeing 737 is made in China. The difference is where the profits are going, inside or outside the country.
How do the "660-foot cables" factor in? Were the drones dragging the phones across the cable?
Was the cable pulled by the drones? (they'd have to be huge?)
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I can see how the drones would be used in conjunction with the cables to make temporary zip lines.
1) hook up the cables to two drones
2) fly one drone over to China from Hong Kong
3) hook the bags to the cable on the drones in HK
4) fly it up to a high altitude
5) the bag slides down the zip line to the other drone flying at a lower altitude in China
6) land drones in China with the bag of phones
7)
Edit: I missed the part where they transported 15,000 in one night. No way a drone battery would last long enough for 1500 up and down flights. They probably launched from a skyscraper and used the height to zip line the phones to China.
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More complete articles on this incident clarify that the drones were used only to ferry two, 100-meter cables between high-rise buildings on one side of the border and a house on the other side. The cables were then attached to motorized wheels on the high-rise side. The bags of iPhones were attached to the wire. Previous similar smuggling efforts between Hong Kong and the mainland involved spanning the border with fishing line, probably shot from one side to the other with a crossbow. So it turns out the use of drones here is essentially little more than a novelty.
No, it's not insane, and it has everything to do with the Chinese government's incentives aiming at attracting manufacturers that were in place in the past couple of decades in order to build an export economy. Most products made in China by big multinationals are made on Chinese soil but are considered as foreign soil (bonded zones) in terms of how (very little) they are taxed. These zones eliminates duties or taxes on imported components. They used to have to physically ship the products out to Hong Kong and ship them back to China for the import tax, but now these bonded zones are creating a virtual customs that can import or export without moving parts/merchandise or crossing borders. This has only started to become a problems in recent years as more Chinese consumers started to buys these products, creating an awkward situation where foreign companies' "made in China" products are not really made in China. Most Chinese manufacturers on the other hand, are actually paying normal Chinese corporate taxes and import duties for foreign components, so they are actually "made in China" when you look at import duties.
The smuggling transport is a criminal enterprise to begin with. How do we know those 15,000 are all legit Apple iPhones? The Chinese underground has perfected the art of counterfeit iPhones.
How do we know the iPhone and iPad devices being shipped across the world are genuine? They could be replaced with counterfeit versions the moment it leaves the Foxconn, Pegatron, and Wistron factories.
I heartily support the good people of Hong Kong. The authorities in the PRC, not so much.
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Yes, I was trying to suggest something like that. Not much real 'free trade' in our world. You would think the people of HK who want a good deal would be flocking to 'iPhone Factory Outlets' near the factories in mainland China.
It wouldn't surprise me to find that some little princes, offspring of high ranking Party members, somehow get rich from the scheme which motivated smugglers to use drones to get around it.
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Your assumption would be wrong. Look a few posts up for the complete explanation.
You have no ideas of how international manufacturing chains works, do you? No wonder so many in the US are blindly following Trump’s call for trade wars and tariffs left right and centre.
This seems like an extreme case, but seems like drones are good way to smuggle small but valuable stuff.
Even with lower models you can upload a route to the drone and make it fly autonomously without the need of remote controller signal. Considering only a small portion of borders are manned, drones can fly low enough not to be detected by radar etc and high enough to not to hit a tree or structure.
A cheap and viable way of smuggling arises in my opinion.
Even with lower models you can upload a route to the drone and make it fly autonomously without the need of remote controller signal. Considering only a small portion of borders are manned, drones can fly low enough not to be detected by radar etc and high enough to not to hit a tree or structure.
A cheap and viable way of smuggling arises in my opinion.
Some of these comments are laughably inaccurate. The reason why they are smuggled over to the mainland is because the public want the latest and greatest status symbol NOW. HK always gets the first release of iPhones. (Not the carrier specific, crippled phones you get on the same day in the US. The fully unlocked version.)
So outside every apple store in HK are touts trying to buy phones from new customers. You can sell unopened iphones for double what you paid for it 5 minutes ago.
Then they go across the border. Since the national pastime is to “improve” yourself with status symbols and to impress your friends, it’s worth paying hundreds more. Then you stand out from the 2 billion people for a few moments...
People in HK hate this ****. The mainlanders are the Ferengi.
So outside every apple store in HK are touts trying to buy phones from new customers. You can sell unopened iphones for double what you paid for it 5 minutes ago.
Then they go across the border. Since the national pastime is to “improve” yourself with status symbols and to impress your friends, it’s worth paying hundreds more. Then you stand out from the 2 billion people for a few moments...
People in HK hate this ****. The mainlanders are the Ferengi.
What’s more laughable is you don’t seem to realize iPhone X was released simultaneously in HK and China as carrier unlocked devices on day one.
Mainland authorities believe the gang had smuggled 500 million yuan (HK$620 million) worth of second-hand mobile phones, mostly iPhones, across the border, evading 100 million yuan in tax.
What you don’t realise, is that the cost of iPhone X is hundreds of yuan more expensive on the mainland.
This fiasco plays itself out every Apple product release in HK. It is impossible to buy iPhones in the shops for months after release in HK as they were all scooped up by touts. Now you have to enter a daily lottery to get one, a lottery that is fully subscribed in the first few seconds.
(As an aside, the reason why iPhone X didn’t do as well in Asia as expected is that it’s too small. Everyone uses large devises as most people don’t have the room or the desire to have their only deceive, small.)
I mean really, why do you think the drone guys got caught? As Apple once said, Think.
You grossly overestimated or don’t know the facts. Fake ‘iphone’ in China are no iPhones. They have the appearance of iPhones and a closely resemble GUI, but they run Android. The fake lies only in appearance and are no iPhone.
That’s not a HW difference but iOS implementation associated with the particular AppleID account and local server.