Islamabad: Buyers of the brand-new iPhone 16 series, including the much-hyped iPhone 16 Pro Max, are in shock and frustration as their dream purchase has turned into a nightmare.
After paying record-high prices for PTA-approved devices, many users are discovering that their phones become completely unresponsive during calls or while checking messages, leaving them unable to answer urgent calls or use any function for several minutes. For consumers who spent upwards of Rs. 600,000 on Apple’s latest flagship, the experience is nothing short of humiliating.
A survey in Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad found that dozens of early buyers are facing this crippling glitch. The phone suddenly freezes when a call comes in, or when a user tries to view or respond to a message. During this interval, the phone is essentially a lifeless block of glass and metal.
“I bought the Pro Max thinking I was upgrading to the best in the world, but it freezes on me at the most critical moments. I feel cheated,” said a furious customer in Islamabad. Complaints are particularly pouring in from The Apple Shop at Star City Mall in Saddar Karachi, where buyers say they have been left stranded with unresponsive devices.
What aggravates the frustration is the complete absence of support. Vendors selling the sealed phones wash their hands of any responsibility, claiming they import packed sets and cannot be held accountable for internal glitches.
The official distributor, Mercantile, has been equally dismissive, with users asked to factory reset their phones multiple times before being told to “contact Apple helpline.” But with Apple having no formal presence in Pakistan, the helpline is useless, leaving buyers caught in a vicious loop.
Mercantile has even tried to blame local networks such as Jazz and Telenor, though users point out that the same SIMs work flawlessly in older iPhone models.
“They told me to change my SIM, but when I put it in my old iPhone 14 Pro Max, it worked perfectly. The problem is the new device, not the network,” said a buyer in Islamabad.
Some frustrated users even approached the police and FIA, only to be directed to the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA). Yet the regulator — which collects massive taxes on every imported iPhone, sometimes more than a quarter of its price — has remained silent.
Consumers argue that PTA, as custodian of the telecom sector and prime beneficiary of handset taxes, has a duty to protect buyers. “We pay billions to the PTA so our phones can work here, but when the devices fail, they tell us to chase vendors. Who will protect the consumer?” asked an irate Karachi buyer.
The iPhone 16 Pro Max was marketed globally as Apple’s most powerful device ever, but in Pakistan the launch has been marred by glitches, unanswered complaints and regulatory silence. With no official Apple presence and weak consumer protection laws, users of the country’s most expensive smartphone are left helpless, angry and demanding accountability for what has become an unreliable gadget that freezes at the worst possible time.
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