Advance orders for Apple’s iPhone 12 were snapped up within three days on a Chinese e-commerce platform despite mixed reviews during its launch this week in mainland China, where homegrown brands such as Huawei dominate.

All pre-orders for the latest iPhone upgrades on retailer JD.com, totaling more than a million units, were taken between Thursday and Saturday. Prices started at 5,499 yuan (US$821) and most of the pre-orders were for the iPhone 12 with 820,000 reservations, while the iPhone 12 Pro came in second with 440,000. The other two iPhone 12 models being introduced in this round are the Mini and the Pro Max.

Another e-commerce website, Suning.com, had received 1.45 million pre-orders by Friday night, and Apple’s official website was still accepting pre-orders as of press time.

The iPhone 12 debut on Wednesday drew mixed reactions in China, the American brand’s second-largest market by revenue, with many saying they would instead opt for upcoming models from its domestic rivals Huawei and Xiaomi. Huawei bagged 44% of the Chinese market in the second quarter, while Apple had an 8.5% share, a Reuters report showed.

An earlier poll by Caijing magazine produced more or less even results on whether people would buy the 5G-enabled iPhone 12. Some 10,000 people voted no, 9,269 said yes, and more than 5,400 professed to be still sitting on the fence.

Internet users on China’s microblogging site Weibo were quick to point out that the latest sell-out proved the iPhone was still popular despite the criticism.

“Buying is a choice, criticizing is an act of nationalism,” said one Weibo user.

Another said: “Chinese people have too much money and nowhere to spend it.”

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