Americans are going wild over smartphones loaded with TikTok, with listings reaching astronomical prices on popular online platforms like eBay and Facebook marketplace! The demand for TikTok-integrated devices has skyrocketed following a brief outage over the weekend, leading to a frenzy of sellers offering phones and tablets preloaded with the app and other ByteDance applications. Some sellers have set eye-watering prices, with listings on eBay hitting as high as $50,000, while others have opted for more affordable rates starting as low as $340.
Entrepreneurial individuals, like New Yorker Nicholas Matthews, have seized this opportunity to cash in on the TikTok craze by putting up devices with the popular app for sale. Matthews, for instance, listed an iPhone 14 Plus with TikTok for a whopping $10,000, garnering bids as high as $4,550 by Friday. Despite the uncertainty surrounding the ban on new TikTok downloads from Apple and Google’s app stores, the allure of owning a device with the sought-after app has driven bidding wars and raised eyebrows across the digital marketplace.
The ban on TikTok, which boasts a massive user base of around 170 million in the U.S., has left many wondering about the future of the app and its parent company’s willingness to comply with potential acquisition offers. Meanwhile, questions loom over President Trump’s attempt to delay enforcement of the ban until early April, with legal and jurisdictional concerns complicating the situation further. As the tech world braces for potential upheaval, buyers and sellers alike are navigating this uncertain landscape with a mix of excitement and trepidation, eager to see how this high-stakes saga unfolds in the weeks to come.