After soft sale and demand for iPhones forced US tech giant Apple to recently announce a very rare revenues and profit warning for the fourth quarter, a number of Chinese electronics retailers including Suning – backed by Alibaba, and JD.com, have decided to cut down the prices of iPhones this week.
Some of the price cuts are quite steep. For example, the retailers are offering discounts as much as $118 for the recently launched 64GB iPhone XR and analysts estimate that such steep discounts are signals that the slump in sale and demand that Apple mentioned for the holiday season had probably got extended onto the current quarter as well.
According to media reports based on examination of websites of Chinese retailers, the slew of discounts on iPhones started off earlier in the middle of current week and there were at least six promotional offering during this weekend.
No comments from Apple were available even though the prices of the iPhones that are sold through its own website remained the same.
According to Mo Jia, a Canalys analyst who tracks China’s smartphone industry, while it is not uncommon to have such high rebates for special occasions such as Single’s Day in November, the latest price offers are significant because they are related to the latest XS and XR models from Apple which were released just only months ago.
According to the perception of Jia, it is likely that Apple could have itself reduced the prices of its phones that it ships to its Chinese distributors, or the distributors themselves might have taken the decision to reduce the prices so that they are able to move more units.
“It’s possible Apple wants to test the market’s feedback if it brings down the channel prices. Or, Apple might be under pressure to clean out its stock of iPhones,” he said.
Huawei Technologies Co Ltd has been offering phones that are similar in technology, features and quality as the iPhones but at a much lower price in China – the largest smartphone market in the world in terms of shipment volume, and this had resulted Apple falling behind this domestic Chinese company.
Poor demand in the Chinese market for its iPhones was cited by Apple last week as the primary reason or its issuing a revenue warning, its first in almost 12 years. That warning resulted in its shares dropping by 10 per cent which was the largest drop for the company in a single day in the last six years.
On Friday, Suning announced that the price of the 64GB iPhone XR offered by it would be 5,699 yuan, which is 800 yuan ($118.46) lower than the printed price of the iPhone available in China. The retailer is also offering a 1,200 yuan discount for the 64GB version of the iPhone 8 which it is offering at 3,899 yuan.
Promotions on models going back to the 8 series are being offered by JD.com, a major online seller of consumer electronics. A similar campaign has been launched by Dangdang, one of the rivals of JG.com.
(Source:www.foxnews.com)
Some of the price cuts are quite steep. For example, the retailers are offering discounts as much as $118 for the recently launched 64GB iPhone XR and analysts estimate that such steep discounts are signals that the slump in sale and demand that Apple mentioned for the holiday season had probably got extended onto the current quarter as well.
According to media reports based on examination of websites of Chinese retailers, the slew of discounts on iPhones started off earlier in the middle of current week and there were at least six promotional offering during this weekend.
No comments from Apple were available even though the prices of the iPhones that are sold through its own website remained the same.
According to Mo Jia, a Canalys analyst who tracks China’s smartphone industry, while it is not uncommon to have such high rebates for special occasions such as Single’s Day in November, the latest price offers are significant because they are related to the latest XS and XR models from Apple which were released just only months ago.
According to the perception of Jia, it is likely that Apple could have itself reduced the prices of its phones that it ships to its Chinese distributors, or the distributors themselves might have taken the decision to reduce the prices so that they are able to move more units.
“It’s possible Apple wants to test the market’s feedback if it brings down the channel prices. Or, Apple might be under pressure to clean out its stock of iPhones,” he said.
Huawei Technologies Co Ltd has been offering phones that are similar in technology, features and quality as the iPhones but at a much lower price in China – the largest smartphone market in the world in terms of shipment volume, and this had resulted Apple falling behind this domestic Chinese company.
Poor demand in the Chinese market for its iPhones was cited by Apple last week as the primary reason or its issuing a revenue warning, its first in almost 12 years. That warning resulted in its shares dropping by 10 per cent which was the largest drop for the company in a single day in the last six years.
On Friday, Suning announced that the price of the 64GB iPhone XR offered by it would be 5,699 yuan, which is 800 yuan ($118.46) lower than the printed price of the iPhone available in China. The retailer is also offering a 1,200 yuan discount for the 64GB version of the iPhone 8 which it is offering at 3,899 yuan.
Promotions on models going back to the 8 series are being offered by JD.com, a major online seller of consumer electronics. A similar campaign has been launched by Dangdang, one of the rivals of JG.com.
(Source:www.foxnews.com)
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