As the sale of iPhone 8 and 8 Plus began in several countries on Sept 23, queues outside Apple stores were shorter than previous years and the growing craze to own "super premium" iPhone X is likely to be the reason, media reported.
The various Apple stores across the world reportedly saw a lot thinner crowd, far fewer than last year's iPhone 7 launch, tech website CNET reported.
Most people seem to be holding out for the crown jewel of this year's iPhone series launched, the iPhone X, costliest of them all with price starting at $999.
Even on home turf, the Apple store at San Francisco's Union Square did not perform well.
"A 38 year old tourist from Brazil, Thais Aguilar, was contemplating whether to get an iPhone 8 before she flies back home. After a while, she decided to wait to buy an iPhone X back home and pay possibly three times as much as the $999 price in the US," the report added.
Instead, Aguilar opted to buy Apple Watch Series 3. "Many other customers also seemed to prefer buying Apple Watches instead of iPhone 8 and 8 Plus, the report added.
This confirms earlier reports that iPhone X will cannibalise iPhone 8 orders.
"While it takes three to six weeks or more to ship new iPhone models after they are available for pre-order, they see the iPhone 8 taking less than one to two weeks. This is due to the iPhone X cannibalisation," Ming-Chi Kuo, the most famous Apple analyst with KGI Securities said earlier this week.
Ming, however, said the new Apple Watch Series 3's (GPS + Cellular version) could be a runaway hit.
"We estimate the pre-order weighting of the GPS plus Cellular version is 80 to 90 per cent. While not available in all countries, most users have pre-ordered the GPS plus Cellular version because it offers phone and internet access functions without an iPhone and given the low premium of $70 over the GPS version," the analyst had predicted.
iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus were made available from September 22 in the US, Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Singapore, the UAE, the UK and other countries.
Apple would launch iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus, starting Rs 64,000, in India on September 29 while pre-bookings started on September 22.
The iPhone X will come to India on November 3, starting Rs 89,000.
Apple Watch will be available in two different case sizes, 38mm and 42mm from September 29 in India.
Apple Watch Series 3 (GPS) will be available in gold, silver and space grey aluminium cases with a Sport Band, starting at Rs 29,900.
