Joey Reyes, who works in a mall in Manila, was the first on a long queue to claim his dream phone—iPhone 14—during the midnight launch at an Apple store at Greenbelt 3 in Makati City on Oct. 14, 2022. (The STAR/Miguel de Guzman)

A sales staff member of a mall in Manila was the first of hundreds of buyers who waited in line outside an Apple reseller store to be among the first ones to avail of the newly-released iPhone 14.

ABS-CBN News reported that Joey Reyes queued on the morning of October 12, Wednesday outside Power Mac Center in Greenbelt 3 in Makati to avail the new iPhone model.

It was released to the public on Friday midnight, making his total queuing time around 41 hours.

“Sales lang ako. Pangarap ko maka-iPhone. Tiniis ko po budget budget para makabili bago. Kasi love ko talaga,” Reyes said to reporters on Thursday.

“Tipid talaga: Pagkain, pamasahe, at gastusin. ‘Yung mga kaibigan sa trabaho nanghihingi lang ako ulam. ‘Yung pangbili ng ulam, nilalagay ko sa alkansya ko. Minsan, nakiki-angkas sa katrabaho. Nag-ambag din ibang kaibigan ko,” he added.

“Pero sulit… the best, kasi iPhone 14, worth it. Magagamit ko ‘yan sa trabaho,” Reyes further said.

He also shared his experience while queuing for more than a day.

“Challenge sa madaling araw, mainit at malamok. Mahirap ‘yung tulugan na. ‘Di naman pwede magdala kumot. Para makatulog ka maayos, nagdala ko ng carton,” the Apple enthusiast said.

“‘Pag una ka sa pila, may surprise ka. ‘Di ko pa alam laman… pero may freebie,” Reyes added.

Apple gave him and the first 50 customers P28,000 worth of accessories.

Meanwhile, the 51st until the 150th customer were gifted P14,000 worth of freebies.

The store also gave P10,000 worth of freebies to the succeeding 100 customers, while P5,000 worth of goods was granted to the 251st until 500th customers.

Reyes said that the promo would help his expenses.

“Hahatiin ko. Bebenta ko iba sa kaibigan ko or ka-trabaho o kakilala. Para makabawi,” he shared.

According to the report, Reyes was also the first to avail of the iPhone 11 in the same branch in 2019.

However, it was stolen from him on his way home.

“Yung cellphone ko, ‘yung una, iPhone 11, nanakaw… pauwi na ko, malakas ulan. ‘Di ko namalayan ‘yung celphone ko nahablot na pala,” he recalled.

The second in line who camped out for iPhone 14’s release was Crystal Gracie, Reyes’ fellow mall staff.

She has longed to own an Apple gadget since the iPhone 4s came out in 2011.

“First time ko bumili iPhone. Para maranasan man lang mag-iPhone. Kita na maganda features, lalo ngayon,” Gracie shared.

The iPhone 14 line boasts longer battery life, aerospace-grade aluminum, ceramic shield smartphone glass, crash-detection sensors, highest quality photos and videos, an A15 Bionic 5-core GPU, and a super retina XDR display for iPhone 14 Plus.

This content was originally published here.