During the Women's Day promotion on March 8th, the iPhone 15 once again saw a significant price drop of over a thousand yuan.
Upon checking the official flagship stores of Tmall and JD.com, it was found that after stacking store and platform coupons, the selling price of iPhone 15 128G was only 4849 yuan, and other products of the iPhone 15 series also hit a new historical low in official flagship stores. Among them, some models are priced 1300 yuan (180 US dollars) lower than usual.
JD APP screenshot
Related topics also once surged on the hot search.
However, the price on Apple's official website has not changed at the moment and is still starting at 5999 yuan.
Apple official website
After stacking store and platform coupons, the same iPhone 15 Pro 256G is priced at 7999 yuan and 7849 yuan respectively on Taobao and JD.com's official Apple flagship stores, while the official Apple Store price remains at 8999 yuan.
Previously, Apple's official website in China unusually lowered the official selling price of its latest phone during the Lunar New Year period, announcing the launch of a "limited time discount for welcoming the Chinese New Year" from January 18th to 21st. Among them, the price reduction of four iPhone 15 series models reached 500 yuan, and the starting price of iPhone 15 dropped below 5000 yuan. And the price reduction through this channel is even greater.
According to media analysis, the latest iPhone 15 series is not as popular in the Chinese market as before, with sales consistently lagging behind previous generations, partly due to the tightening global economic environment and the strong Huawei smartphone business.
IDC analyst Will Wong said, "According to preliminary data from IDC1 for the month, the pressure mainly comes from other Android suppliers, as we have seen Apple's sales decrease by about 10% year-on-year that month, while Huawei has grown by three digits during the same period."
On February 4, Counterpoint Research official account, a market research organization, released a report saying that according to the latest data, Huawei will return to the Chinese market strongly in the first two weeks of 2024 as the number one smartphone sales. Since the implementation of US sanctions in 2019, Huawei's sales share has been declining, and this summit marks its first time regaining the championship title.
The report mentions that Huawei has regained the championship position in the Chinese smartphone market, and the Mate 60 series equipped with its independently developed Kirin 9000S chip is a key driving factor for Huawei's recent success. In addition, its strong brand loyalty and the successful launch of the HarmonyOS operating system have also helped it.
On February 1st local time, technology giant Apple released its Q1 2024 financial report (i.e. Q4 2023 performance).
The financial report shows that Apple's quarterly revenue was $119.58 billion, higher than analyst expectations of $117.97 billion, returning to year-on-year growth. In the first quarter, iPhone revenue was $69.7 billion, higher than the expected $68.55 billion.
Apple's first quarter service revenue was $23.12 billion, with analysts expecting $23.37 billion; Earnings per share of $2.18, analyst expectation of $2.11; Mac revenue is $7.78 billion, with analysts expecting $7.9 billion; IPad revenue is $7.02 billion, with analysts expecting $7.06 billion; Wearable devices, home furnishings, and accessories revenue is $11.95 billion, with analysts expecting $12.02 billion.
Apple Financial Report
It is worth noting that Apple's first quarter revenue in Greater China was $20.82 billion, far below analyst expectations of $23.5 billion. Apple stated that it has achieved sales growth in all regions except Greater China, while sales in Greater China have decreased by nearly 13% compared to the same period last year.
According to a report by Reuters cited by Yangcheng Evening News on January 9th, analysts at investment bank Jefferies stated in a report that despite significant price reductions on major Chinese e-commerce platforms, including the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max, iPhone sales still decreased by 30% in the first week of the new year compared to the same period last year. The 30% decline is significantly accelerating compared to Apple's overall 3% decline in China in 2023. Jeffrey analysts believe that Apple's decline in sales is mainly attributed to fierce competition from local Chinese brands, especially Huawei, which strongly returned to the high-end market after releasing the Mate 60 series in August last year.
Subsequently, on January 15th, Apple launched a rare large-scale price reduction event on its official website in mainland China. On the evening of January 17th at 8 o'clock, the Tmall New Year Shopping Festival officially began selling. Among them, Apple has also joined the Tmall New Year Shopping Festival this year. Starting from midnight, the Tmall Apple Store official flagship store has launched a "Spring Festival limited time discount" activity, and all Apple products have been officially reduced, reaching the full network bottom price of Apple's official channels.
It is reported that compared to the 500 yuan discount on the official website, the iPhone discount on the official flagship store of Apple and Tmall is greater. During the evening of January 17th from 8pm to 31pm, the Tmall Apple Store flagship store will offer a discount of 1000 yuan on the full range of iPhone 15 coupons, starting at 4999 yuan, which is 500 yuan cheaper than Apple's official website. It can also be used in 12 installments with interest free, and only costs about 13 yuan per day.
Lowering prices seems to have become Apple's main strategy for self rescue in the Chinese market. Some media outlets have pointed out that in 2022, the iPhone 14 saw a maximum price reduction of nearly 2000 yuan during the 618 promotion, making it the best-selling mobile phone in the 618 promotion that year. This demonstrates the significant effect of the price reduction strategy on stabilizing Apple's market share in China.
Ivan Lam from Counterpoint Research said, "Apple is offering short-term promotional prices to third-party channels as an early promotion for International Women's Day on March 8th." "We have observed that iPhone sales in the Chinese market are increasingly reliant on promotional activities."
It is worth noting that in order to focus on the mobile phone business and seize the AI mobile phone market, Apple has abandoned its 10-year car making plan.
At 3am Beijing time on Wednesday, globally renowned technology journalist Mark Gurman released a heavyweight piece of news: Apple has decided to cancel its electric vehicle project, which has been ongoing for over a decade!
Social media X platform
Gurman stated that Apple's Chief Operating Officer Jeff Williams and Vice President in charge of car manufacturing, Kevin Lynch, had already announced this decision internally on Tuesday.
In response, Li Xiang, CEO of Ideal Automobile, stated on Weibo on February 28th that Apple's decision to abandon car manufacturing and focus on artificial intelligence is an absolutely correct strategic choice, and the timing is also appropriate.
Li Xiang stated that with the development of TOC artificial intelligence, Apple will become a $10 trillion enterprise; If artificial intelligence loses, Apple will become a $1 trillion enterprise. Artificial intelligence will become the top entry point for all devices, services, applications, and transactions, and Apple's battleground. Making a car and achieving great success, Apple will increase its market value by $2 trillion, but the necessary condition for car success is still artificial intelligence. The electrification of cars is the first half, and artificial intelligence is the final.
Li Xiang also stated that the artificial intelligence extended by mobile phones is bits, the artificial intelligence of cars is atoms, and artificial intelligence spans both the digital and physical worlds. The three necessary conditions for the success of artificial intelligence are talent, data, and computing power.
Li Xiang Weibo
Daily Economic News Comprehensive Apple Official Website, Apple Financial Reports, Daily Economic News, Li Xiang Weibo, Public Information
