Apple fans find little to excite in new iPhone

That could be because numerous leaks about the new product have revealed that not much is new, and widely anticipated features, such as wireless charging and eyeball and gesture recognition - which exist in rival models by Nokia and Samsung - are missing. In addition, the Chinese mainland lacks a 4G network, which the iPhone 5 supports.

China is Apple's second biggest regional market by revenue, but the Chinese mainland is not on the list of the first batch of regions to sell the iPhone 5.

Sales are expected to start in Hong Kong next Friday, with a starting price of HK$5,588 (US$716) for the 16GB model.

There is no date yet for official iPhone 5 sales on the Chinese mainland but stores on Taobao, the online marketplace, are already taking orders for phones at around 5,500 yuan (US$868).

"It's just a taller iPhone 4S without innovation," said Fjptlinli on Weiphone.com, a major Apple user forum in China.

It was just one of many posts expressing disappointment at the new device. And in an online survey on Sina.com, 48.1 percent of 36,000 respondents said they would not be buying an iPhone 5, 24.6 percent would "wait and see," and just 27.3 percent said they would buy one.

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