HONG KONG — When Apple’s latest iPhones went on sale this month in Hong Kong, Singapore and New York, among the hip urbanites and tech-obsessed was another group clamoring for the devices: Chinese scalpers looking to make a premium by flipping the phones to smugglers.
香港——本月，当苹果公司(Apple)最新款的iPhone在香港、新加坡和纽约发售时，争相购买的除了时尚的都市精英和科技迷外，还有一个群体：希望通过将手机倒卖给走私客赚取差价的中国黄牛党。
But the gray market for the new iPhones has already dried up, even though they will not officially go on sale in China for a few weeks, at the earliest.
尽管新款iPhone最早也要几周后才能在中国大陆正式发售，但它的灰色市场已经崩塌了。

Wholesalers who helped orchestrate the smuggling of tens of thousands of the phones into the country are now slashing prices to move inventory. At an electronics market in central Beijing, one retailer was recently selling the low-end iPhone 6 and 6 Plus for 6,500 renminbi to 8,800 renminbi ($1,060 to $1,436), down from 12,000 renminbi to 15,000 renminbi ($1,960 to $2,450) just after the release.
为了处理库存，之前帮助安排数万部新款iPhone偷运进中国的批发商正在大举降价。在北京市中心的一处电子市场，一名零售商最近在以6500元到8800元的价格，销售低配版的iPhone 6和iPhone 6 Plus，而刚开始发售时，它们的价格是1.2万元到1.5万元。
“Stocks of the iPhone 6 are way too high right now,” said one wholesaler of smuggled iPhones in Beijing’s northwestern tech hub Zhongguancun.
“现在iPhone 6的存货太多了，”一名销售水货iPhone的批发商说。他在位于北京西北部的科技中心中关村做生意。
The smugglers’ experience represents the new reality for Apple in China.
走私客的遭遇，代表着苹果在中国面临的新现实。
Four years ago, the iPhone 4 was a status symbol, with the black market booming before the product was officially introduced. Today, the iPhone is simply one option among many, as local companies like Xiaomi and Meizu Technology rival Apple in terms of coolness while charging less than half the price.
四年前，iPhone 4是身份的象征，在大陆市场正式发售前，黑市就颇为繁荣。如今，小米和魅族等中国本土手机在酷炫方面堪比苹果，而价钱却不足苹果的一半，于是iPhone沦为众多选择中的一个。
A spokeswoman for Apple declined to comment on the smuggling.
苹果的女发言人拒绝对走私问题置评。
The primary route the iPhones have taken into China is via Hong Kong, according to the wholesaler, who declined to be identified because of the illegality of some parts of the operations. Scalpers organize Hong Kong customers with local identity cards to preorder phones that the scalpers then collect outside the store, paying about $325 extra per phone. The phones are then smuggled to wholesalers in Guangdong, across the border from Hong Kong, and from there are shipped to cities across China.
据前述批发商称，iPhone进入中国的主要路线是经过香港。因为部分生意并不合法，此人拒绝公开姓名。黄牛党组织香港的消费者用当地的身份证件预订手机，再每部加价大约2000元人民币，在店外收购。然后，手机被偷运至与香港毗邻的广东省的批发商手里，然后再被运至全国各地。
When the prices were high, early last week, the wholesaler said he was making more than $163 per sale. But his profit margins have dissolved as prices have fallen. “This year the scalpers’ losses will be big,” he said.
这名批发商说，上周伊始价格尚处于高位时，他每卖出一部手机获利上千。但随着价格的走低，他的利润空间消失了。“今年，黄牛的损失会很大，”他说。
China is a fast-growing market for Apple, which competes with Samsung for control in the high-end smartphone segment. In January, Apple brokered a long-delayed deal with the country’s largest telecom company, China Mobile, which has helped bolster sales. The largest smartphone market in the world, China accounted for 15.9 percent of Apple’s revenue in the last quarter.
对正在与三星(Samsung)争夺高端智能手机细分市场控制权的苹果来说，中国是一个增长迅速的市场。今年1月，苹果与中国最大的电信公司中国移动达成了一项推迟已久的协议，从而助推了销售额的增长。作为全世界最大的智能手机市场，中国在苹果上季度的营收中所占比例为15.9%。
The new models will help Apple solidify its position in the country. In China there are about 50 million iPhone users, according to Kitty Fok, a managing director of the research firm IDC. She estimates that the company will sell about four million phones a month as customers swap their old iPhones for the new ones.
新产品将有助于苹果巩固在中国的地位。调研企业国际数据公司(IDC)的执行董事霍锦洁(Kitty Fok)称，中国有大约5000万iPhone用户。她估计，随着消费者将手中的iPhone升级换代，苹果公司每月会卖出大约400万部手机。
But both Apple and Samsung face stiff competition from local brands, which have been offering cheaper phones with high-end features. As Samsung’s sales slipped this year, the company was replaced by Xiaomi as the country’s largest smartphone maker, according to the market research firm Canalys.
不过，苹果和三星都面临着来自中国本土品牌的激烈竞争。这些国内厂商一直在以更便宜的价格提供具有高端功能的手机。市场调研公司Canalys称，随着三星销量的下滑，小米今年已经取而代之，成为中国最大的智能手机生产商。
“The local players aren’t only playing the price game,” Ms. Fok said. “They have products that cater to the local market, big screen sizes, optimized connectivity for China and dual SIM cards.”
“本土参与者并不只是在玩价格游戏，”霍锦洁说。“他们有迎合本土市场的产品，大屏、为中国度身定制的优化联接，以及双卡双待功能。”
The Chinese government is not making things any easier. An intensifying crackdown on corruption in the country has led officials, who in the past were known to spend big on luxury products like iPhones, to tamp down on lavish purchases.
中国政府也没有让苹果的日子好过。中国正加大打击腐败的力度，导致过去出了名地会在iPhone等奢侈品上大肆挥霍的官员，不敢再那么大手大脚。
The government has also signaled that it would take measures to curb government reliance on electronics made by foreign companies after disclosures by the former National Security Agency contractor Edward J. Snowden about United States government surveillance. In a statement issued this month, Apple’s chief executive, Timothy D. Cook, said the company had never cooperated with the government of any country to provide access to customer data.
在国家安全局(National Security Agency)前承包商雇员爱德华·J·斯诺登(Edward J. Snowden)揭露美国政府的监控项目后，中国政府还释放了信号，将采取措施抑制政府对外国企业出产的电子设备的依赖。苹果首席执行官蒂莫西·D·库克(Timothy D. Cook)本月发表声明称，公司从未与任何国家的政府合作，提供客户数据。
At a conference this month, Wei Jianguo, the director general of the China Center for International Economic Exchanges, said that the Shanghai government had told its employees to use Huawei phones instead of phones produced by Apple or Samsung, according to a transcript posted on the news portal Sohu, one of the sponsors of the event.
新闻门户网站搜狐发布的文字记录显示，在本月的一次会议上，中国国际经济交流中心秘书长魏建国表示，上海政府要求工作人员使用华为手机，不再使用苹果或三星手机。搜狐是会议的赞助商之一。
Three government officials in Shanghai and Beijing said they had not heard about any formal notice to stop using foreign phones and said many in their departments still used iPhones. One of the officials in Beijing, however, said people in his office refrained from bringing in Apple computers or iPads, because they are a more conspicuous display of wealth.
上海和北京的三名政府官员表示，他们均没有收到有关停止使用外国手机的任何正式通知，并称他们所在部门的很多工作人员仍在用iPhone。但其中一名北京的官员表示，他们办公室的人不再带着苹果电脑或iPad上班了，因为这是比较显眼的炫富行为。
Out of the gate, Apple is already a step behind with the iPhone 6. Last year, the company released the latest model in China at the same time it did in the United States, Japan and parts of Europe. This year, the release has been delayed as Apple awaits government approval, an often slow and unpredictable process.
从一开始，苹果就在iPhone 6的发售上慢了半拍。去年，公司同时在中国、美国、日本及部分欧洲国家发售新款手机。今年，苹果却推迟了在中国的出货时间，因为要等待政府的批准，而这通常是一个缓慢且不可预测的过程。
The iPhone 6 is likely to get the final license before China’s National Day celebrations on Oct. 1, according to a person with knowledge of the plans who works for one of China’s state-owned telecom providers. If that happens, the new models will most likely begin selling in China a few weeks later.
据在中国某家国有电信运营商任职的一名知情人士透露，iPhone 6很可能会在10月1日的国庆节之前获得最终的许可。如果确实如此，新款iPhone极可能会于几周后在中国开售。
The delay gives the smugglers a bit more time to get rid of their stock.
延期发售给了走私客多一点处理存货的时间。
The recent scene at the electronics market in Beijing — a multistory mall crowded with stalls of vendors selling everything from calculators and hard drives to surveillance cameras and smartphones — was not encouraging. Only a few customers browsed in the narrow walkways.
最近，北京的这座电子市场并不景气。这是一家多层商场，布满出售各种设备的摊位，计算器、硬盘、监控摄像机、智能手机，不一而足。只有少数几名顾客在狭窄的通道中逛着。
No stalls openly displayed the new iPhones. On request, the vendors could procure the devices from a wholesaler. One vendor said the market for the phones was far worse than in past years but said he hoped a new crackdown on smuggling by customs officers would help push their price back up.
没有商家公开兜售新款iPhone。如果有顾客要买，商贩就去批发商那里拿货。一名小贩表示，iPhone的市场行情比过去几年差多了，但他表示，希望海关新一轮的打击走私的行动会在一定程度上推动价格回升。
In recent days, Hong Kong’s marine police have played a cat-and-mouse game with smugglers who use speedboats to take iPhones into China. On Thursday night, the police ran off several men in a mangrove swamp loading boxes of iPhones into a flat wooden boat that would ferry them out to a nearby speedboat. They seized 286 iPhones, according to a statement from Hong Kong customs. In other instances, customs has found hundreds of phones concealed in the axles of trucks and in hidden compartments in cars.
最近几天，香港水警与利用快艇向内地运送iPhone的走私客玩起了猫捉老鼠的游戏。周四夜间，警方发现，几名男性正在红树林沼泽地里往平底木船上搬运装有iPhone的箱子，准备用它再运送到停在附近的快艇上。香港海关发表声明称，截获了286部iPhone。其他的例子包括，海关曾在卡车轮轴及汽车隐秘厢体中发现了数以百计的手机。
A report from China’s state-run Xinhua news service said the government would auction off 2,000 iPhone 6s it had seized in the southern city of Shenzhen.
中国官方媒体新华社的一则报道称，政府将拍卖在南部城市深圳查获的2000部iPhone 6。
The vendor at the electronics market said that one way smugglers skirted the stricter enforcement was to walk the phones across the border two at a time. Usually those crossing the border take the phones out of the packaging to convince customs officials that the phones are their own, he said.
前述电子市场的小贩表示，走私客避开严格执法行动的办法是，一次带两部手机过关。他表示，水客通常会拆除手机的包装，比便让海关人员相信，手机是他们自己的。
Tearing off the plastic on what appeared to be an unopened iPhone 6, he showed how the screen was already dotted with the fingerprints of whoever brought it into China.
他撕掉了看似尚未开封的iPhone 6外面的塑料包装，展示了手机屏幕，指出上面已经留下了将手机带入内地的人的指纹。
“Right now at our market you won’t find a phone that is actually in its original packaging,” he said.
他说，“在我们市场，现在你找不到任何一部真正是原包装的手机。”