For Apple fans: prices for the latest iPhone models in China have been reduced. All because of competitors
2 January 17:14
Apple is offering rare discounts of up to 500 yuan ($68.50) on its latest iPhone models in China as the US tech giant tries to protect its market share from growing competition from domestic rivals such as Huawei. This was reported by Reuters, according to "Komersant Ukrainian".
Reportedly, the four-day promotion, which will run from January 4 to 7, applies to several iPhone models that are purchased using certain payment methods.
The flagship iPhone 16 Pro with a starting price of 7999 yuan and the iPhone 16 Pro Max with a starting price of 9999 yuan will receive the highest discount of 500 yuan. the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus will receive a 400 yuan discount. Apple’s promotion also includes discounts of 200 to 300 yuan on older iPhone models, as well as other product categories such as MacBook laptops and iPad tablets. To be eligible for the discounts, customers must use certain payment methods, such as WeChat Pay or Alipay.
What makes Apple fight for customers
Apple was prompted to offer the discounts by the fact that local consumers are in no hurry to spend money amid a slowing Chinese economy and deflationary pressures, with consumer inflation hitting a five-month low in November.
In addition, Apple is trying to fight a decline in market share in China, the world’s largest smartphone market, where local manufacturers have intensified competition. Huawei has proved to be a particularly strong competitor. It has reduced prices for a variety of high-end devices, including mobile phones, to 3,000 yuan ($411) on one of China’s leading e-commerce platforms. As reported in a post on the company’s official Weibo account, Huawei offered discounts on its smartphones, headphones, watches, and tablets as part of JD.com’s Super Brand Day promotion, which lasted from Saturday evening to midnight on Sunday.
Competition in the Chinese market is heating up
In the second quarter of 2024, Apple briefly fell out of the top five smartphone vendors in China before recovering in the third quarter. According to IDC, the American company’s smartphone sales in China fell 0.3% during the third quarter compared to a year earlier, while Huawei’s sales grew 42%.
In the third quarter, Apple took second place with a market share of 15.6%, although it decreased by 0.5 percentage points compared to last year. Huawei was third with 15.3%, gaining 4.2 percentage points.
Vivo, which mainly sells budget phones, was the leading vendor with a market share of 18.6%.
The rivalry between Apple and Huawei has intensified since Huawei’s return to the premium segment last year with the Mate 60 series, which analysts believe contains a domestically produced chip. And the Chinese tech giant pushed Apple even further after entering the market with its latest model, the Pura 70.
It is also worth noting that Apple has faced additional difficulties in China, including restrictions on the use of the iPhone by some government agencies.
There is an opinion that the iPhone 16 Pro is already “outdated”
Vivo recently introduced the Vivo X200 Pro flagship smartphone for the Chinese market. As GSMArena claimed back in October, it is the most powerful Android device in the world – the new product scores more than 3 million points in the AnTuTu benchmark. For comparison, the iPhone 16 Pro Max scores 1.95 million in similar AnTuTu tests.
