From arriving before dawn to sleeping in cars, Apple fans in the UAE are turning the iPhone launch into an annual ritual driven by excitement, exclusivity and social influence.
At 3 am, while much of Dubai was still asleep, some Apple fans were already waiting at Dubai Mall.
Others arrived before sunrise. Some spent the night in their cars. By morning, the queue outside the Apple Store had become part of the spectacle surrounding the launch of the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max.
The curious part is that nobody needed to do this.
The phones could be pre-ordered online and purchased through Apple’s website or app. Yet on September 18, customers still turned up in person, some travelling from abroad to be among the first owners. Apple itself offers online shopping, trade-ins, and delivery options, deciding to spend hours in a queue less about access and more about the experience of getting the device.
For many buyers, the queue is no longer simply a queue.
It has become part of the iPhone launch.
When buying becomes a ritual
For Pakistani expat Sadaf, launch day has become a family tradition. She arrived at an Apple Store with her sister-in-law and two-year-old niece to collect three devices.
“We have been doing it for years,” she told Khaleej Times, adding that the family still has not figured out how to secure the earliest possible collection slot. They are already planning to buy Apple’s upcoming iPhone Duo when it launches in October.
That kind of behaviour is difficult to explain through product functionality alone.
Dr Sarah Percy, Assistant Professor in Marketing at the University of Birmingham Dubai, describes the queue itself as part of the experience for Apple’s loyal customers.
For these buyers, she said, being among the first to own the latest model can express identity, exclusivity and a sense of belonging. The early alarm, the wait and the excitement shared with other customers become part of the story attached to the purchase.
The product is therefore only one part of what is being purchased.
The launch-day experience matters too.
The psychology of seeing everyone else queue
There is another force at work when hundreds of people gather outside a store.
Dr Rumaila Abbas, Assistant Professor of Marketing at the University of Wollongong Dubai, calls it a consumer-behaviour paradox. Retailers normally try to remove waiting from the purchasing process. But a visible queue can create the opposite effect.
A long line becomes social proof.
When people see others willing to wake up early, travel across the city or spend hours waiting, it can reinforce the perception that the product is desirable.
The effect becomes particularly powerful when the people waiting are not anonymous customers but friends, influencers, celebrities or members of a recognisable community.
The queue tells a story before the customer has even entered the store.
‘I want it before everyone else’
Dubai resident Hanal arrived with her family to collect four iPhones. Each family member had saved for their own device.
Their reasoning was straightforward.
“We decided as a family to upgrade,” she said. “When you have made the decision to buy, you might as well buy it on the first day before everyone has it.”
The family chose two burgundy, one black, and one blue devices.
That desire to be early is where exclusivity and FOMO begin to overlap.
The difference between owning an iPhone 18 Pro today and owning the same phone a week later is technically negligible. Socially, however, the difference can feel much larger.
During launch week, social media fills with unboxing videos, camera tests, celebrity posts and photographs of people holding the new model. The device quickly becomes part of a wider cultural conversation.
Percy says influencer and celebrity content can increase the social desirability of the latest model by placing it within aspirational groups. When that visibility is combined with queues outside stores, consumers can feel an increased urge to participate rather than simply observe.
Some customers flew to Dubai for it
The launch has also created a cross-border shopping phenomenon.
Russian tourists Saiful Islam and Ive Sultana Molly timed their Dubai trip around the iPhone launch because the device would take longer to reach the Russian market.
Their plan was simple: buy the phones in Dubai, fly home the same day and become some of the first people in their market to own them.
They were not alone.
Khaleej Times reported that other buyers travelled to Dubai specifically for the launch, while some customers purchased multiple devices. Two Dubai residents spent more than Dh550,000 on 76 iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max units, with some later resold at premiums.
For those buyers, the iPhone launch becomes more than a personal purchase. It can also become an opportunity, a social event or even a business transaction.
Why burgundy matters
Then there is the colour.
Apple introduced the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max in burgundy, glacier, silver and black, with burgundy becoming one of the most visible finishes associated with the new generation. The Pro models start at AED 5,099 in the UAE, while the Pro Max starts at AED 5,499.
A distinctive new colour does something that a technical specification cannot.
It makes the new model recognisable from a distance.
Percy argues that a distinctive finish can act as a visible cue of new ownership. Burgundy may carry associations with sophistication or status, but its greater marketing value lies in making the latest model immediately identifiable.
Someone carrying a burgundy iPhone 18 Pro is not simply carrying a phone.
They are carrying a recognisable sign that they bought the newest one.
Apple is selling the moment, not just the device
Apple’s annual launch cycle has created a predictable pattern.
A new product is announced. Pre-orders open. Social media fills with reactions. Reviews appear. Customers share their delivery dates. Stores prepare for launch day. Then the queues arrive.
The pattern repeats every year, but repetition has not necessarily made the ritual less powerful.
For loyal customers, the anticipation itself has become part of the product experience.
Abbas points to the same shift in consumer behaviour. During launch week, people are exposed to so many conversations around the new device that the comparison can move beyond “Do I need a new phone?” to “Do I want to be part of this?”
That is a very different purchasing question.
The queue is part of the product.
The iPhone 18 Pro is an expensive smartphone with significant upgrades to its camera, processor, and battery. Apple says the new Pro models feature a 48MP Fusion Main camera with variable aperture, the A20 Pro chip, and improved battery performance.
But those specifications alone do not explain why someone would arrive at a store at 3 am when the same phone can be ordered online.
The psychology is more complicated.
There is the excitement of being first, the satisfaction of owning something before most people around you, the influence of seeing others make the same choice and, for long-time Apple customers, the comfort of participating in a familiar annual tradition.
The waiting becomes part of the memory. The photographs become part of the story.
And the phone becomes more than a phone. That may be the real reason the queue keeps returning every year.
Source: Customers at the Apple Store at The Dubai Mall on the day of the launch of the iPhone 18 Pro series. Photo: Shihab/Khaleej Times
