Overnight queues and Dh550,000 pre-orders as iPhone 18 Pro hits Dubai
Outside Dubai Mall and the Mall of the Emirates, the scramble for Apple’s latest flagship didn’t wait for store opening hours on Friday, September 18, 2026. Long before dawn broke, enthusiasts were already camped out, turning parking zones and sidewalks into impromptu waiting rooms for the official regional release of the iPhone 18 Pro series.
For Indian expats Raihan and Muhammed Shabeeb, the release was a calculated business play. Fearing they might oversleep after living close by, the pair spent the night sleeping in their car outside Dubai Mall before hitting the Apple store at 6:00 AM. They walked away with 14 devices from the downtown location before driving straight to the Mall of the Emirates to scoop up another 22. By noon, nearly their entire stock had vanished into the hands of eager buyers.
Shoppers desperate to skip the official waiting lists proved willing to pay steep markups. Within the first hour of doors opening, buyers shelled out premiums ranging from Dh500 to Dh2,000 above the retail cost just to secure the device immediately. The duo’s total investment hit Dh550,000 across 76 mixed iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max models in various storage configurations, with another 40 devices lined up for collection on Saturday, September 19.
The retail frenzy drew crowds of all ages to the malls. Thirteen-year-old Indian expat Hamdan Imran skipped school to join his uncle, Fazlur Rahman, in collecting five new devices for their household, continuing a six-year family tradition of securing phones on launch day.
The heavy demand follows substantial hardware upgrades from Apple, featuring the new A20 Pro chip built on a 2-nanometer process, alongside a 48-megapixel main camera equipped with a variable aperture. Retail pricing for the lineup reflects the high-end tech, with the Pro starting at Dh5,099 and the Pro Max beginning at Dh5,499, while top-tier 2TB models climb to Dh10,599.
Industry watchers note that these immediate resale premiums typically flatten out within the first few days as retail supply catches up with pent-up consumer demand across the emirate.
