Buy a White iPhone 4 right now… in China

If you want to get your hands on an white iPhone 4 right now, you can actually walk right into a market and buy one… if you’re in China that is. Much to Apple’s displeasure, the white iPhone 4 is openly for sale on various Chinese websites, and it’s widely available at popular electronics markets in Guangzhou, Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Shenzen. Exactly how these iPhones were obtained for resale is sort of a mystery, but one thing you can be sure of is that the phones are not sanctioned for sale by Apple.

You’ll find that the white iPhone 4’s come in original Apple packaging, which suggests that a substantial amount of the white models were created and ready for shipment before being canceled at the last minute. I am guessing that it is these limited production models that are popping up in the Chinese grey markets.

Read on for a bunch of pictures and more information…

A local friend tells me that most of the grey market iPhones are sold unlocked which means they can be freely used on any carrier with a sim card, and most of the phones are running iOS 4.0 or iOS 4.1 which hints that these phones were likely produced and sold into the grey markets some time ago.

The flourishing grey and black markets in China work in mysterious ways and prices don’t come cheap, the white iPhone 4 will set you back between 4500 and 8000 Yuan, which is between $675 and $1200 in US dollars. I think your final price depends on your bargaining skills.

Alongside the white iPhone 4’s you’ll also find the white touch panels and pieces of the white enclosure available for sale that cost about $30 to $100, and there’s also a ton of ‘shanzai’ iPhone models (a Chinese word for counterfeit or fake), and of course black iPhone models are for sale too.

Are these prices worth it? Should you buy a plane ticket to Hong Kong and pay your favorite Kowloon market a visit? I don’t think so, I say just buy a white case if you like the colour so much, but I’m also not obsessed with the white iPhone model.

If you’re not in China or you don’t feel like buying a grey/black market iPhone, you can wait for the Spring 2011 white iPhone 4 release date, which was confirmed by Apple a few months ago. I think your only other option to get a white iPhone now is to be a Saudi Prince, but I bet you his phone came from China too.