BEIJING - Apple has ceased direct sales of its iPhone 4 at its retail outlets in Beijing and Shanghai and is only accepting online orders in order to curb rampant scalping, just 13 days after the company launched it in the mainland.

Customers lined up continuously in front of the four Apple stores in the two cities after Apple launched the popular handset in the mainland on Sept 25.

Although Apple refused to reveal sales figures for the iPhone 4 in China, a salesman at the company's flagship store in Beijing's Sanlitun Village shopping mall said that 1,000 phones were sold within three hours.