Apple has once again adopted more aggressive promotional measures towards the Chinese market.
On May 20th, it was announced that the official flagship store of Apple's Tmall and Apple Store has launched a new discount policy for the iPhone 15 series. From 20:00 on May 20th to May 28th, combined with official discounts and Apple coupons, the iPhone 15 series offers a maximum discount of 2250 yuan (1TB version of iPhone 15 Pro Max) and a minimum discount of 1400 yuan (128G version of iPhone 15).
According to the above discounts, the price of iPhone 15 starts at 4599 yuan, iPhone 15 Plus starts at 5599 yuan, iPhone 15 Pro starts at 6099 yuan, and iPhone 15 Pro Max starts at 7949 yuan.
Not only the iPhone 15 series, but also many hardware categories have shown significant price reductions in the official flagship store of Apple's Tmall and Apple Store. For example, the iPhone 14 series that is still on sale will be reduced by at least 700 yuan, the starting price of the Apple Watch S9 will be increased from 2999 yuan to 2399 yuan, the M2/M3 chip version of the MacBook Air will be reduced by 600 yuan, the AirPods series will be reduced by 350 yuan, and the iPad series will be reduced by 200 yuan.
In addition to the Apple Tmall flagship store, according to Interface News reporters, the Apple JD self operated flagship store has also taken similar promotional actions. According to the official announcement, starting from 8pm on May 20th, the store's iPhone 15 will have a limited time and quantity of 4599 yuan, and the starting price discounts for other models will be basically the same as those on the Tmall platform. In addition, price reductions for other hardware products such as the Apple Watch are also taking place simultaneously.
This is an important milestone, as Apple has never had such a significant official price reduction in the Chinese market.
In January of this year, Apple launched a price reduction on its official website, allowing consumers to purchase designated products through eligible payment methods, with a maximum price reduction of 800 yuan. This policy almost covers the entire range of products. However, in this discount, the iPhone 15 series only got a maximum discount of 500 yuan.
Not only that, the latest discounts are even greater than third-party channels. In November last year, about a month after the release of the iPhone 15 series, unofficial channel prices still did not return to official levels, but the general price difference remained between 800 yuan and 1000 yuan.
It is not surprising that the price reduction of the iPhone 15 series has expanded over time, but its current pricing has even been basically on par with the price of Pinduoduo after billions of subsidies, which is rare in past price history.
Behind the price reduction, Apple also faces certain sales pressure. The company's financial report for the first quarter of this year showed an 8% decrease in sales in the Greater China region. But Apple CEO Cook said at the time, "I feel good about China and I am more concerned about long-term issues." At the same time, Cook pointed out that iPhone sales in China increased in the second quarter.
Looking at the global market, the same pressure applies. According to a report released by IDC, global smartphone shipments in the first quarter of 2024 increased by 7.8% year-on-year to 289 million units. Among them, Apple's global iPhone shipments decreased by 9.6% from January to March, totaling 50.1 million units. Samsung, ranked first, only saw a decrease of 0.7%, while Xiaomi, ranked third, saw a growth of 33.8%.
Although Apple's situation in the first quarter is closely related to its sales growth in 2023, setting aside everything, the pressure on iPhone sales growth is no longer a new topic. This is directly related to the surprise brought by iPhone updates every year: consumers have become increasingly difficult to make the decision that a new iPhone must be bought.
Of course, a significant reduction in the price of an expensive iPhone can certainly leverage a market that was previously unattainable, but will this be a long-term option for Apple, which relies on innovation? Heavy users are still looking forward to new surprises.