Smuggled gold iPhone 5s now 3,000 yuan cheaper

Gold iPhone 5s

(ECNS) -- The price of hot-selling Apple's gold iPhone 5s dropped by 3,000 yuan ($480) after the long holiday, according to the Beijing Morning Post.

Lin, a Hebei citizen, bought two units of gold iPhone 5s at an electronics store in Beijing's Zhongguancun on the last day of the National Day holiday, for 7,300 yuan each. The vender said half a month ago the phone was selling for 11,000 yuan, as it was a hot ticket item and was in short supply at first.

He said it is common for supply and demand to be imbalanced in the short term, adding that with the increase in supply, the price went down fast.

More people just came to ask about the price than actually buying, the vendor said.

The newspaper also said golden stickers that transform the phone's original color are a quick option for some Apple fans. A search for golden stickers on Taobao yields hundreds of results on China's largest online market, it said.

"You only need to spend 99 yuan to make your iPhone 5 look like a golden iPhone 5S in a second," one store touted in its online advertisement, saying 2,000 stickers were sold in the last month.