An advertisement for the Huawei Pura70 mobile phone is seen in front of the Apple Store on the Nanjing Road pedestrian street in Shanghai, China, on May 15, 2024.
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As the 618 Shopping Festival promotion begins in China, Apple is aiming to boost sales by offering deep discounts on iPhones in China amid fierce competition from local brands such as Huawei.
Chinese e-commerce marketplaces JD.com and Alibaba's Tmall have sold some iPhone models at discounts of up to 20% since the 618 Festival promotion began on Monday. ing.
Apple's 256GB iPhone 15 Pro Max is on sale for 7,949 yuan (US$1,120), down from an original 9,999 yuan, a significant discount over the price reported in February.
Tmall and JD.com are part of Apple's sales channels in the country and regularly promote discounts during the mid-year 618 shopping festival.
According to Alibaba's announcement, this year's event will be held in two sales periods, from May 20th to May 28th and from May 31st to June 20th.
Apple will also offer a discount of up to 6,100 yuan on the iPhone 15 for Chinese buyers who trade in their iPhone 11 or later versions, according to the company's website.
Le Shuang Cheiu, an analyst at technology market research firm Canalys, told CNBC that while the promotion coincides with a shopping festival, the deep discounts are also likely related to weak iPhone sales.
“Apple's second price cut in 2024 follows the first price cut in February and is aimed at boosting sales and countering Huawei's resurgence,” he said, adding that the previous price cuts have helped boost sales momentum. He pointed out that it pushed up the
Chinese telecommunications company Huawei has faced headwinds in China, one of its largest markets, since late last year it launched new smartphone models using advanced chips that the United States had sought to restrict access to. has been done.
In the first three months of this year, Apple's sales in China fell 25% year over year, and its market share fell from 20% to 15% in the same period, according to Canalys data.
Meanwhile, last month, Huawei announced a new series of high-end smartphones, the Pura 70, as a new challenger to the iPhone.
But despite its struggles in China and a 10% drop in global iPhone sales in the March quarter, the company has seen significant earnings upside and a major share buyback earlier this month, prompting investors to succeeded in maintaining the trust of
Apple also expanded its gross margin for the quarter by 46.6% due to growth in its services business, suggesting revenue growth for the current quarter.
