Singtel’s first iPhone 11 customer simply watched a Man U match after arriving at MBS at 2am

It ain’t easy being one of the first few consumers in the land to own the latest iPhone, but Ng K.A. manages. Twice in a row, even. 

The 38-year-old Singaporean engineer was first in line to grab his Midnight Green iPhone 11 Pro Max from Singtel this morning (Sept 20) — a feat achieved by general sleeplessness and a deep devotion for Apple products. 

“I’m a geek!” laughed Ng in an interview with AsiaOne. 

“I always enjoy getting the latest gadgets, and from what I’ve seen in the reviews, it seems like this camera on the new iPhone is pretty awesome,” he said, adding that he’s looking forward to using his new (and fully spec-ed out at 512GB) device to snap pictures during the Singapore Grand Prix this weekend. 

The longtime Apple fan noted that he’s been upgrading his iPhones since 2010 with Singtel, even managing to be first in line for the telco’s iPhone Xs launch last year. He did it again today — Ng arrived outside the Marina Bay Sands ballroom venue at 2am this morning, right when workers were done wrapping up installations for the Singtel launch event. 

“I had a hard time sleeping, so I decided to come down. My favourite football team was playing anyway, so I thought I could kill two birds with one stone.” 

What the man did was plop himself outside the venue and streamed the Europa League match between Manchester United and smalltime Kazakh football club Astana. No guesses as to who won. 

The sleepless effort paid off as he became the first customer to walk into the ballroom to the rousing applause of Singtel staffers at 7.30am. The VIP treatment continued on stage when top Singtel execs personally handed him his new iPhone along with other freebies. 

Though he might have been the first consumer in Singapore to get an iPhone 11 Pro Max, he could only get his hands on the actual phone after unboxing it at 8am. Apple’s strict condition, you see. 

Probably the only regret he has is the fact that he’s already incurred a huge parking fee since he drove down to Marina Bay Sands. 

Aside from Ng, dozens of other Singtel customers managed to make their purchases quickly and walk out of the venue with their new iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro, iPhone 11 Pro Max in hand — all without breaking a sweat or breathing in the haze. Those who pre-ordered the phones under Singtel managed to get ‘em early, but the rest who didn’t can only start purchasing them in stores from Sunday onwards. 

ilyas@asiaone.com