Apple is slashing prices on iPhones in China to drive sales amidst stiff competition from local rivals like Huawei, coinciding with promotions for the country’s 618 shopping festival.
During the ongoing 618 festival, Chinese e-commerce giants JD.com and Alibaba’s Tmall are offering discounts of up to 20% on select iPhone models.
Notably, the 256-gigabyte iPhone 15 Pro Max is now priced at 7,949 yuan (US$1,120), down from its original 9,999 yuan, marking a substantial discount compared to previous offerings in February.
Tmall and JD.com serve as key sales channels for Apple in China, regularly rolling out discounts during the mid-year shopping extravaganza, which this year spans from May 20 to May 28 and May 31 to June 20, according to Alibaba.
In addition to price cuts, Apple is enticing Chinese consumers with trade-in deals, offering discounts of up to 6,100 yuan on the iPhone 15 when trading in iPhone 11 or newer models, as detailed on the company’s website.
Analysts attribute the aggressive discounts not only to the shopping festival but also to Apple’s efforts to counter slowing iPhone sales, particularly in the face of Huawei’s resurgence.
Le Xuan Cheiw, an analyst at Canalys, noted that these markdowns follow a prior price reduction in February and are aimed at reinvigorating sales momentum amid heightened competition.
Apple has been grappling with challenges in China, a critical market, since Huawei’s launch of new smartphone models featuring advanced chips last year.
This, coupled with ongoing trade tensions between the U.S. and China, has impacted iPhone sales, with a 25% year-over-year decline in the first quarter and a drop in market share from 20% to 15%, per Canalys data.
Despite these hurdles, Apple remains resilient, buoyed by robust investor confidence following strong earnings and a significant stock buyback earlier this month.
The company’s expansion of its gross profit margin by 46.6% in the last quarter, driven largely by its flourishing services business, underscores its optimism for revenue growth in the current quarter.
