Apple offers biggest-ever iPhone discounts in China as annual ‘618’ shopping festival begins

CNN — Hong Kong (CNN) — Apple is offering unprecedented price cuts in China as big brands and retailers launch promotions for the annual “618” shopping festival in the face of sluggish consumer demand.

The hefty discounts by the iPhone maker come at a time when it is battling stiff competition from Chinese smartphone manufacturers, such as Huawei and Vivo, and declining market share in the world’s second largest economy.

On Monday, Apple said it would slash prices of some of its smartphones on Tmall — an Amazon-like site owned by Alibaba — by as much 23% till May 28.

Customers can now get an iPhone 15 for 4,599 yuan ($639), down 1,400 yuan ($194) from the original price, according to promotions on Apple’s official store on Tmall.

Apple is hoping to boost its sales during China’s second biggest online shopping bonanza of the year, which usually runs from late May to mid-June. The company did not respond to a request for comment.

Launched by e-commerce firm JD.com in 2008, “618” is beaten only by Singles Day, which was created by Alibaba in 2009.

Today, both festivals eclipse Black Friday and Cyber Monday in terms of total sales, and all major Chinese e-commerce sites and many brick-and-mortar retailers offer weeks of promotions across their platforms to lure customers. Stars often get in on the act, too.

Rihanna appeared in Shanghai Tuesday, making a popular Chinese breakfast crepe and hosting livestream sessions showcasing her Fenty Beauty products on Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok.

While Apple has been slashing prices of its iPhone 15 models and iPads sold in China since October, the discounts this month are the biggest the company has ever offered in its biggest overseas market, according to Chinese state media.

“Apple needs to aggressively defend market share [in China],” said Jefferies analysts in a note on Tuesday.

Apple’s China market share slid to 15.7% in the first quarter of this year, compared to 19.7% a year earlier, according to data compiled by Counterpoint Research. Huawei, meanwhile, saw sales surge 70%, closing in its gap with Apple.

After Monday’s price reductions, Apple’s iPhone 15 is now in the same price range as smartphones made by Xiaomi and Huawei.

Boycotting the price war

Smartphone makers aren’t the only companies waging a price war in China.

Almost every sector, from food and clothing to consumer electronics and cars, is offering big discounts reflecting a dramatic shift in consumption patterns in the country.

The 618 shopping festival, a key barometer of consumption in the country, has seen growing competition by e-commerce sites and retailing brands to offer discounts.

But the price cutting has become so brutal that some companies are boycotting the event.

More than 50 book issued joint statements on Monday, saying that they would not participate in the this year’s shopping festival because of aggressive pricing policies that required them to offer discounts of 20% to 30% on JD.com.

One statement, issued by 10 publishing houses in Beijing, said the boycott was a necessary move to “maintain the stability and prosperity” of the book publishing market.

The other statement, published by 46 companies in Shanghai, said they were against “disorderly” competition in the market.

Even major state-owned publishing companies voiced opposition to “chaotic” price wars.

“We hope there will be a wider resistance to the chaos of discounting, or more effective control,” a subsidiary of Shanghai Century Publishing said Monday on its official account on Xiaohongshu, the country’s Instagram-like social platform.

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