Apple fans in China can't buy the Vision Pro yet, so they're lining up to rent it by the hour or day

• Apple's Vision Pro hasn't launched in China yet.
• Chinese denizens can rent the Apple Vision Pro for as low as $13 an hour, SCMP reported.
• Some third-party vendors are seeing lines of customers eager to get their hands on the headset. 

People living in China are eager to try out the Apple Vision Pro before it launches in the country — and some are lining up to rent the headsets from third-parties, the South China Morning Post reported.

Dozens of advertisements to rent Apple's mixed reality headset — which retails for $3,500 in the US — are popping up across Chinese sites like Alibaba Group Holding's Xianyu and Zhuan Zhuan, according to ads seen by the news outlet.

Rental prices ranged from around $13.62 US dollars (98 yuan) per hour to roughly $208 (1500 yuan) per day, according to the Post. Some ads said merchants require a deposit of at least $4,168 (or 30,000 yuan) while others give renters the option to purchase the device after they use it.

It's unclear how Chinese third-party vendors get their Apple Vision Pros.

Vision Space, a Beijing-based VR startup offering Vision Pro rentals, said that one of its brick-and-mortar stores received more than 10,000 customers just two days after the device hit the US market, SCMP reported, with people lining up. The VR firm could not be reached for additional comment.

So far, these rentals seem to be well-received. One Vision Pro merchant told the South China Morning Post that customers were pleased by the device and that some were considering buying it.

While Apple CEO Tim Cook reportedly said the headset will "soon" be available in China, one of its largest markets, a release date hasn't been set. Apple didn't immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment ahead of publication.

When it does, the third-party vendors renting the headsets will likely have some competition from Apple itself. In the US, Apple offers free, 30-minute demos of the headset that are guided by an Apple retail employee.

For people interested in enjoying some time with a Vision Pro in their own home, however, third-party vendors aren't just leasing the headsets in China. Photography equipment rental companies like Lensrentals and ShareGrid appear to be offering their own Apple headset rentals starting at $120 a day.

Are you using the Apple Vision Pro in an interesting way? BI would like to hear about it. Contact reporter Aaron Mok at [email protected].