Apple is once again reducing the prices of some iPhone models in China to increase sales and strengthen its position in the competitive smartphone industry.
Apple is making this move in an attempt to hold onto its market share in the high-end smartphone segment, which is becoming more competitive due to the entry of regional rivals like Huawei.
Local competitors like Huawei are currently posing a greater threat to the corporation as Huawei unveiled the Pura 70, a new line of premium smartphones, last month. That came after the Mate 60 introduction in August of last year.
The May 20–May 28 discount offer from Apple is a larger deal than the one from February.
Xinmei Shen, an Honk Kong based technology reporter explained that the top-of-the-line 256-gigabyte iPhone 15 Pro Max model went on sale on Monday for 7,949 yuan (US$1,100) on Alibaba Group Holding’s Tmall platform and JD.com’s official Apple online stores.
This is a 2,050 yuan (20%) price reduction from the 9,999 yuan it originally cost when the new series was released last September.
On JD.com and Tmall, the entry-level 128GB iPhone 15 model is now 23% less expensive at 4,599 yuan than it was previously at 5,999 yuan. The two sites state that the sale will be open from May 20 until May 28.
“Apple’s atypical iPhone discount drive on Chinese online marketplaces started in January, following online and offline campaigns of rival Chinese smartphone vendors – including Xiaomi and Honor – that knocked down prices on their various Android models,” Shen noted.
According to the International Data Corporation, Apple sold just 50.1 million iPhones in China between January and March of this year, an almost 10% drop from the same period in 2023.
We earlier reported that The difficulties Apple has recently faced in China are widely known. Apple’s CEO, Tim Cook, visited China earlier this year in a high-profile manner to reassure the Chinese government of the company’s commitment to the market.
