Apple Responds to Huawei Threat by Slashing iPhone 15 Prices in China

Apple has launched another round of steep discounts on iPhone 15 models in mainland China, in a bid to boost sales in its biggest smartphone market and counter a strong showing by Huawei.

The discounts run from May 20 to May 28 and are steeper than the price cuts that Apple introduced in February.

For example, on its official store on Alibaba Group’s Tmall site, Apple is offering discounts of up to 2,300 yuan ($318) on select models. A top-of-the-line 256GB iPhone 15 Pro Max can now be bought for 7,949 yuan ($1,199), compared to its 9,999 yuan price tag when the device was released in September.

Meanwhile, an entry-level 128GB ‌iPhone 15‌ model is currently being offered at the discounted price of 4,599 yuan ($636), down from its previous price of 5,999 yuan.

Apple has become dependent on discounts to shift ‌mid-cycle ‌iPhone 15‌‌ stock, with strong competition from Huawei’s latest high-end series of Pura 70 phones said to be partly behind the most recent drop in sales. Apple’s previous discounts in February were thought to be a response to growing interest in Huawei’s homegrown Mate 60 series, which launched last August.

Apple sales in China dropped 13 percent to $20.8 billion in the quarter ended December, falling short of the $23.5 billion predicted by analysts.

However, despite a gloomy outlook for 2024, Apple’s previous promotions in February are believed to have helped counteract its sales slowdown in China. Reuters reports that Apple’s shipments in the country increased by 12% in March, a significant improvement from the first two months of 2024, when the company experienced a 37% slump in sales.

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