Apple slashes iPhone XR prices for Chinese resellers in bid to kickstart demand

Posted:
in iPhone
Apple has reportedly knocked down the pricing of iPhone XR units sold by Chinese channel resellers by about $100, hoping to revive the market's sagging iPhone sales.

iPhone XR colors


Following a notice from Apple, a "tier 1" partner that sells to distributors and retailers has lowered the XR's price from 5,980 yuan ($881) to 5,380 yuan ($793) with a 150-yuan ($22) coupon, Yahoo Finance said. E-commerce platform JD.com is offering a 400-yuan coupon bringing the phone down to 6,099 yuan, while electronics retailer Suning is simply selling the device for less than before at 6,199 yuan.

The 64-gigabyte XR is out of stock at Suning, Yahoo noted.

Apple's website still lists the XR at 6,499 yuan, roughly $958. Publicly the company has been counting on a trade-in program to ease price anxiety.

While Apple may be partly motivated by the upcoming Chinese New Year holiday, earlier this month it admitted that December quarter revenues will be billions below guidance primarily because of Chinese iPhone sales. iPhones have often been hard to afford for the average person in the country, and 2018 models are more expensive than ever -- phones by local brands like Huawei and Xiaomi are much cheaper while having comparable features.

Apple has denied that the XR is a "flop," claiming it's been selling better than the XS and XS Max since its launch. That may just reflect badly on the XS line though, and/or the company's overall iPhone strategy, which has pushed prices and features deeper into "premium" territory.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 23
    DAalsethDAalseth Posts: 2,783member
    It's a start. Drop prices in all other markets and I may look at updating.
    tokyojimuivanhkitatitelectrosoftk2kwpropod
  • Reply 2 of 23
    wood1208wood1208 Posts: 2,905member
    OLD news.
  • Reply 3 of 23
    It's not going to help. The Chinese market is affected by other factors than price.

    Apple needs to have entry-level products at entry-level prices. I'll keep saying it — releasing a new Mac mini at *twice* the price of the original is not the trend we need to be seeing. The mini is supposed to be their entry-level offering, but is currently priced (and spec'ed) at anything but that. And then the same with iPhone.... ignore the SE, release an XR at the a higher price. It's a scary trend. Let's hope they have the wisdom to bring a new SE with the XR design language.
    80s_Apple_Guymuthuk_vanalingamlogic2.6propodn2itivguy
  • Reply 4 of 23
    It's not going to help. The Chinese market is affected by other factors than price.

    Apple needs to have entry-level products at entry-level prices. I'll keep saying it — releasing a new Mac mini at *twice* the price of the original is not the trend we need to be seeing. The mini is supposed to be their entry-level offering, but is currently priced (and spec'ed) at anything but that. And then the same with iPhone.... ignore the SE, release an XR at the a higher price. It's a scary trend. Let's hope they have the wisdom to bring a new SE with the XR design language.
    "Let's hope they have the wisdom to bring a new SE with the XR design language."

    Doubt it.  If anything, I see Apple bringing out a smaller version of the iPhone XR, something along the lines of 5.5" screen size.
  • Reply 5 of 23
    It's not going to help. The Chinese market is affected by other factors than price.

    Apple needs to have entry-level products at entry-level prices. I'll keep saying it — releasing a new Mac mini at *twice* the price of the original is not the trend we need to be seeing. The mini is supposed to be their entry-level offering, but is currently priced (and spec'ed) at anything but that. And then the same with iPhone.... ignore the SE, release an XR at the a higher price. It's a scary trend. Let's hope they have the wisdom to bring a new SE with the XR design language.
    Remember Apple only want to sell to rich people, Tim Cook stated and I quote "we're not interested in the junk business". I hope one day he lives to regret saying that.
    muthuk_vanalingamtokyojimuivanhkitatitgabberattack
  • Reply 6 of 23
    ktappektappe Posts: 823member
    Hey, where are OUR price drops???
    svanstromkitatit
  • Reply 7 of 23
    So resellers are having a sale for Chinese New Year... yawn.
  • Reply 8 of 23
    saltyzip said:
    It's not going to help. The Chinese market is affected by other factors than price.

    Apple needs to have entry-level products at entry-level prices. I'll keep saying it — releasing a new Mac mini at *twice* the price of the original is not the trend we need to be seeing. The mini is supposed to be their entry-level offering, but is currently priced (and spec'ed) at anything but that. And then the same with iPhone.... ignore the SE, release an XR at the a higher price. It's a scary trend. Let's hope they have the wisdom to bring a new SE with the XR design language.
    Remember Apple only want to sell to rich people, Tim Cook stated and I quote "we're not interested in the junk business". I hope one day he lives to regret saying that.
    You want Apple to sell junk?
    AppleExposedwatto_cobra
  • Reply 9 of 23
    saltyzip said:
    Remember Apple only want to sell to rich people
    And an increasingly smaller slice of the richest, until the day only multi-millionaires can afford their products. They may still make a lot of money, but who is going to create software for the 100 people who paid in gold bars for their iPhones?
    kitatitpropod
  • Reply 10 of 23
    This is a usual channel practice, nothing new: wholesale price adjusted to commitment. Apple does this in every country with different products, not only in China.

    Channel is everything.
    AppleExposed
  • Reply 11 of 23
    ivanhivanh Posts: 597member
    In last ten days I talked to 10 people holding an iPhone older than iPhone X, 8 of them showing their interest and tendency to get a SamSung Galaxy rather than the current of next version of iPhone.  The common things they mentioned were about lack of excellence in software features, and disappointment in immature hardware related features.
    gabberattack
  • Reply 12 of 23
    wood1208wood1208 Posts: 2,905member
    ivanh said:
    In last ten days I talked to 10 people holding an iPhone older than iPhone X, 8 of them showing their interest and tendency to get a SamSung Galaxy rather than the current of next version of iPhone.  The common things they mentioned were about lack of excellence in software features, and disappointment in immature hardware related features.

    In last month I talked to many many people at Gym,work and social gathering who were using mix of various generation iPhones including some with iPhone XS,XS MAX and XR. None of them on older iPhones said we want to upgrade to anything other than iPhone. Even in my family, all are on older gen iPhones and they will upgrade to newer iPhone as each one's need arise.
    muthuk_vanalingamdedgeckoAppleExposedwatto_cobra
  • Reply 13 of 23
    k2kwk2kw Posts: 2,075member
    clarker99 said:
    saltyzip said:
    It's not going to help. The Chinese market is affected by other factors than price.

    Apple needs to have entry-level products at entry-level prices. I'll keep saying it — releasing a new Mac mini at *twice* the price of the original is not the trend we need to be seeing. The mini is supposed to be their entry-level offering, but is currently priced (and spec'ed) at anything but that. And then the same with iPhone.... ignore the SE, release an XR at the a higher price. It's a scary trend. Let's hope they have the wisdom to bring a new SE with the XR design language.
    Remember Apple only want to sell to rich people, Tim Cook stated and I quote "we're not interested in the junk business". I hope one day he lives to regret saying that.
    You want Apple to sell junk?
    No I want them to sell the same iPhoneXR for  $50 less.   They will still be making hundreds in profit on it.
    cgWerkskitatitmuthuk_vanalingam
  • Reply 14 of 23
    lennlenn Posts: 36member
    Apple needs to rethink their entire pricing strategy for all their products. It's just insane what they charge for even a simple 50cent phone case and $1 cable. Can't believe some people continue to pay these outrageous prices for their gear. China is saying no more to high prices. Maybe here in the U.S. people will start doing the same. Until then Apple will not lower prices in the U.S. 
    logic2.6kitatit
  • Reply 15 of 23
    Apple is all about the dollar and is highly reluctant to cut prices even when circumstances change. The Chinese no longer have cheap phones and cheap prices. They have very good phones at cheap prices and consumers love this.
  • Reply 16 of 23
    If Apple wants to jumpstart sales try making the Xs in some colors instead of the truly bland colors it offers. They are old dated colors.
  • Reply 17 of 23
    cgWerkscgWerks Posts: 2,952member
    We'll know things are really desperate when we start seeing buy-one-get-one-free iPhones, and iPhones included with magazine subscriptions. :wink: 

    It's not going to help. The Chinese market is affected by other factors than price.

    Apple needs to have entry-level products at entry-level prices. I'll keep saying it — releasing a new Mac mini at *twice* the price of the original is not the trend we need to be seeing. The mini is supposed to be their entry-level offering, but is currently priced (and spec'ed) at anything but that. And then the same with iPhone.... ignore the SE, release an XR at the a higher price. It's a scary trend. Let's hope they have the wisdom to bring a new SE with the XR design language.
    re: China, yes lots of factors. And, hopefully it won't include the rest of the world soon, too.

    re: Mac mini - I hear what you're saying about Apple needing to have a lower-cost entry-level machine... but, that isn't the mini any longer, nor the advertised point of it. I'm quite happy they did to the mini what they did, as it's now more like a Mac Pro Jr. Adding an eGPU (as I did), nearly makes it better than a Mac Pro, but at a fraction of the cost. IMO, it's quite a good deal, not overpriced.

    re: SE - Gosh, I sure hope they don't redesign it... just update the internals. But, yes, I do hope they bring it back (probably after enough XR sales so they don't fear cannibalization and keep their ASP high).

    saltyzip said:
    Remember Apple only want to sell to rich people, Tim Cook stated and I quote "we're not interested in the junk business". I hope one day he lives to regret saying that.
    Well, poor people do better to buy quality stuff rather than junk too. I just wish Apple still built more high-quality stuff aimed at a more entry-level audience (like they did in the 2000s).

    k2kw said:
    clarker99 said:
    You want Apple to sell junk?
    No I want them to sell the same iPhoneXR for  $50 less.   They will still be making hundreds in profit on it.
    Or, keep selling the SE for $500. It's a better phone anyway.

    lenn said:
    China is saying no more to high prices. Maybe here in the U.S. people will start doing the same. Until then Apple will not lower prices in the U.S. 
    I think this one (among other factors) is more about the Chinese people being told not to buy Apple (and to buy Huawei) because of the arrest of their CFO in Canada (probably because the Deep State wanted to muck up Trump's negotiation efforts).

    But, in terms of the impact of recession, yes, that would probably get people to do that. And, when it hits the USA, people aren't going to have a big choice in the matter.
    AppleExposedwatto_cobra
  • Reply 18 of 23
    A thought occurs also that is this a discount or also a lucky currency adjustment?
    From Feb 2018 to now the RMB has been de-valued over 10% by the Chinese government, so to offset the 10% duty Trump has put some time ago.
    Many countries are paying much higher sums for Apple products already. Most extra end pricing is Duty%

    So apple I am sure pay suppliers at a fixed USD and not against the RMB exchange rate. Almost everyone works to the USD for purchasing.


  • Reply 19 of 23
    So Apple gives the pirates in China a break on their phones, but us loyal US folks still get the shaft on prices, eh?  Shows how desperate Apple is in China since giving them access to all their users' data didn't work. /s


    edited January 2019 cgWerks
  • Reply 20 of 23
    AppleExposedAppleExposed Posts: 1,805unconfirmed, member
    saltyzip said:
    It's not going to help. The Chinese market is affected by other factors than price.

    Apple needs to have entry-level products at entry-level prices. I'll keep saying it — releasing a new Mac mini at *twice* the price of the original is not the trend we need to be seeing. The mini is supposed to be their entry-level offering, but is currently priced (and spec'ed) at anything but that. And then the same with iPhone.... ignore the SE, release an XR at the a higher price. It's a scary trend. Let's hope they have the wisdom to bring a new SE with the XR design language.
    Remember Apple only want to sell to rich people, Tim Cook stated and I quote "we're not interested in the junk business". I hope one day he lives to regret saying that.
    Where have you been the past 2 decades? Apple hasn't sold junk in decades.

    Steve Jobs said the same thing but of course Jobs is seen as the messiah and Cook is the anti-Christ.

    ivanh said:
    In last ten days I talked to 10 people holding an iPhone older than iPhone X, 8 of them showing their interest and tendency to get a SamSung Galaxy rather than the current of next version of iPhone.  The common things they mentioned were about lack of excellence in software features, and disappointment in immature hardware related features.

    Oh The IRONY!!

    wood1208 said:
    ivanh said:
    In last ten days I talked to 10 people holding an iPhone older than iPhone X, 8 of them showing their interest and tendency to get a SamSung Galaxy rather than the current of next version of iPhone.  The common things they mentioned were about lack of excellence in software features, and disappointment in immature hardware related features.

    In last month I talked to many many people at Gym,work and social gathering who were using mix of various generation iPhones including some with iPhone XS,XS MAX and XR. None of them on older iPhones said we want to upgrade to anything other than iPhone. Even in my family, all are on older gen iPhones and they will upgrade to newer iPhone as each one's need arise.
    Obviously. What I find funny is that idiots act like THE ONLY OPTION is iPhone XS Max 256GB when the iPhone 8 and 7 are still on sale starting at $449. Most people are still on iPhone 6/6s so even a 7 would be an upgrade.

    And if you wanna talk anecdotal I know 2 kids(bro and sis) who are "poor", who just upgraded from iPhone 6 to XR.
    watto_cobra
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