Chinese Online Retailers Start Second Round of iPhone Discounts

Wednesday March 6, 2019 3:12 am PST by Tim Hardwick

Online retailers in China have begun discounting iPhones for the second time this year. Reuters reports that several mobile vendors this week announced discounts on iPhone models, including Apple's latest flagship iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max.

iphone xs vs xr

Gadget retailer Suning.Com Co Ltd said it would slash the price of the iPhone XS by as much as 1,000 yuan ($148.95) from its official price. Suning had lowered the prices of other iPhone models in January along with other retailers, but those cuts excluded the iPhone XS.

Pinduoduo Inc, an e-commerce site best known for selling inexpensive goods, has also said it would sell the 64GB edition of the iPhone XS for 6,999 yuan, a drop of over 1,000 yuan from the official price.

JD.com is also reportedly poised to offer discounts on its Apple products, including the iPhone XS and XS Max, which escaped the online retail giant's first major round of discounts in January.

Apple first dropped iPhone prices for third-party distributors in China on January 10, allowing vendors to purchase iPhones more cheaply and pass those savings on to customers. Apple cut prices on most iPhone models, but the XR saw the biggest discounts.

Apple launched the price cuts after seeing iPhone sales fall significantly in China during the holiday quarter of 2018, leading to lower iPhone revenue than expected. One report said Apple was seeing improved iPhone sales in China following the price cuts.

Apple has also partnered with Ant Financial, the finance arm of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, and several state-owned banks to let consumers purchase iPhones via interest-free loans.

Apple CEO Tim Cook said in January that the company was reevaluating its pricing strategies in some international markets, returning to pricing that's "more commensurate" with what local prices were last year to boost its iPhone sales.

Cook also said he believes Apple's higher prices were a factor in the declining number of iPhone upgrades that led to a weaker holiday quarter. In some international markets, the strength of the U.S. dollar amplified pricing increases.

Tag: China

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Top Rated Comments

bunce66

100 months ago

Apple is in danger of totally losing the Chinese market. Samsung went from about 30% market share to less than 1% in a matter of 2 years. The same could happen to Apple and I think they're on thin ice there, which serves them right after jacking up the prices worldwide. Maybe other countries should boycott Apple the same, rather than going along with their bogus pricing scheme.

Beside that issue, who else is sick and tired of seeing companies give special treatment to China? There are so many companies that compromise everything so as to please their authoritarian leaders.

Score: 17 Votes (Like | Disagree)

bunce66

100 months ago

It's odd isn't it, that people in the USA can't collectively realize that all they had to do was do not buy a new iPhone for 1 year and Apple would slash the prices.
Of course, Apple knows people are not able to do that, so the prices will remain high.

Apple made a disgusting calculation that the 50% higher price on the top-shelf iPhone would off-set a reduction in sales and they would make more money. I'm all for freedom and companies charging what they want, but to do this to the people who have been locked into their ecosystem is just awful.

iSheep will justify it by saying that the XR is for those who want a lower price phone. But, the XR has a pathetic LCD screen and starts at $750.

What people care about it the price of the highest end phone, because that's the reference point for the whole market.

It's probably the greediest thing I've ever seen a company do.

Score: 16 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Jsameds

100 months ago

Unless Apple reduce prices to what they were in 2016 I will not be purchasing any new Apple products.

Score: 15 Votes (Like | Disagree)

mytdave

100 months ago

"One report said Apple was seeing improved iPhone sales in China following the price cuts."

No, really? You don't say!

"Cook also said he believes Apple's higher prices were a factor in the declining number of iPhone upgrades that led to a weaker holiday quarter."

Hmmm, imagine that!

Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Pelea

100 months ago

he believes Apple's higher prices were a factor ('https://www.macrumors.com/2019/01/29/tim-cook-price-a-factor-declining-sales/') in the declining number of iPhone upgrades
———

Wow what a stable mental genius

Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)