They focused on their phones. They looked up to check their place in line. They sighed, shifted their weight and focused again on their phones, which shortly would be dead to them.
Hundreds of people stood in line Friday at the Apple Store on North Michigan Avenue to get their hands on the company’s latest products, the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus.
Some said they coveted one of the phones for their 12-megapixel cameras. Others had to have the new 3D Touch screen, which senses the amount of pressure a user applies to the screen to perform a quick action or preview content.
Others just had to have one, period.
“It just feels really nice,” said Chicago resident Indre Vasklelis, 37, as she walked out of the store holding a new iPhone. She said she’d take to streets to “try to find the difference” in her iPhone upgrade.
At 9 a.m. Friday, an hour after the Apple Store opened, a line of people at least 50 deep wrapped from the store’s Michigan Avenue entrance onto the adjoining Huron Street sidewalk.
The line included tech enthusiasts who said they had to have one of the new phones, and it included tourists who said they had to buy one of the new phones while they were in the U.S.
“It makes my life easier in many ways because there are so many apps right now that you can use for your everyday life,” said Virginia Navarro, a lawyer from Spain who said she happened to be traveling in Chicago during the release.
The line also included at least one person who didn’t seem to belong there. On his head, he wore photos, hand-written notes and U.S. currency, and he held a sign that said “You should be here.” Others in line kept their distance.
Analysts said they expected consumers to buy 12 million to 13 million of the phones this weekend, Reuters reported, and Chicago was doing its part. At midday Friday, about 40 people still waited in line outside the Apple Store, underscoring consumers’ infatuation with a brand and product that many seem to consider an extension of themselves — at quite a price.
The iPhone 6s starts at $649 and the 6s Plus at $749. For those who don’t have that kind of cash, Apple offers a program that includes monthly payments and a new phone every year.
Cheng Guo Sun, a graduate student at Illinois Institute of Technology, said he lined up for a new phone Friday because he wanted the new 3D touch feature.
Chicago student Henry Chen said he looked forward to capturing better photos with his new phone.
“I heard the new camera is pretty awesome,” said Chen, 29. “I travel a lot so that’s going to make some difference.”
Chen said he waited in line for the previous iPhone release and decided to do it again because he said Apple makes switching phone models easy.
“The most important thing is that whenever the iPhone comes out, whenever I trade, I don’t lose that much money,” he said.
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