Apple prides itself on being able to whip up the excitement as it puts each new handset on sale but the iPhone fever was rather muted this time around. <br /><br /> One explanation is a switch to online ordering cutting down the traditional queues outside shops <br /><br /> And Apple was a bit of a victim of its own success with shortages of the more popular models.<br /><br /> JUST IN: Apple CEO tim_cook opens Palo Alto, CA store on first day of iPhone 7 & 7 Plus sales pic.twitter.com/CwPg2mcZaO— CNBC (@CNBC) September 16, 2016<br /> <br /><br /> In Australia – the first place in the world selling it – the very first customer complained he could not get the larger size jet-black one he wanted. <br /><br /> Marcus Barsoum, who had spent two nights camped outside the Sydney store, said: “I’m still very sad that I’m not going to get a jet-black of any phone. I thought Apple being Apple they would have some, they wouldn’t sell out through pre-orders, they would have some aside for loyal fans like me that line up.”<br /><br /> It was the same story in New York for Andreas Francis who said: “I’ve been here for a week and a half. I was trying to get the 7 Plus and the new jet-black, but they don’t have the 7 Plus or the jet-black, so I ended up getting the regular black, then the 7.”<br /><br /> China syndrome<br /><br /> In the key market of China the system was also changed so that the only people at the shops were those coming to collect pre-ordered phones.<br /><br /> In China online interest was reportedly muted compared with previous releases. Chatter about the iPhone 7 launch on Chinese microblog Weibo has been far more muted than when the iPhone 6 debuted in 2014.<br /><br /> Apple’s Greater China sales dropped by a third in April-June, albeit after more than doubling a year earlier, while its market share has fallen to around 7.8 percent, placing it fifth behind local rivals Huawei, OPPO and Vivo.<br /><br /> But Beijing customer Chen Xinyu pointed out Apple is still popular and may have gained an advantage from Samsung’s issues with exploding batteries on its flagship handset: “I still think it has a strong appeal, plus because of the Samsung Note 7’s safety problems perhaps a lot of users who wanted to buy Samsung will now buy the iPhone 7.”<br /><br /> No lines for iPhone 7 in London — Because people learned about the internet https://t.co/W4uKbVZ55b— CNBC (@CNBC) September 16, 2016<br /> <br /><br /> Samsung plays catch-up<br /><br /> Samsung is rushing to complete a costly recall of the device. It had to pull Note 7 smartphones from 10 markets after dozens caught fire due to faulty batteries.<br /><br /> It plans to resume selling new Galaxy Note 7 smartphones to South Korean customers from Sept. 28 and the US soon afterwards. <br /><br /> The recall has put it at a major disadvantage according to investment manager Ross Gerber of Gerber Kawasaki: “Apple got the gift of all gifts with Samsung creating an exploding phone and the fact that the Samsung Note is a disaster actually really helps Apple.”<br /><br /> Fire phone? https://t.co/vAOhUiLZ5D— Jim Cramer (@jimcramer) September 16, 2016<br /> <br /><br /> Samsung’s brand
