Apple Gives Massive Discounts At Tmall China To Maintain Position In Premium Smartphone Market

Apple, a massive discount on iPhone products in China (photo: x @Ricky_customs)

JAKARTA - Apple launched an aggressive discount campaign on Tmall's official website in China, offering discounts of up to 2,300 yuan (IDR 5 million) on certain iPhone models. This discount was carried out as an effort by the US technology company to maintain its position in the high-end smartphone market, which is getting tighter with competition from local competitors such as Huawei.

The discount campaign, which runs from May 20 to May 28, is bigger than what Apple offered last February. In the February campaign, the highest discount was 1,150 yuan (IDR 2.5 million), while this time it reached up to 2,300 yuan.

The largest discount is applied to the iPhone 15 Pro Max 1TB model, while other models also get significant discounts. For example, the basic iPhone 15 version with a capacity of 128 GB gets a discount of 1,400 yuan (IDR 3.1 million).

The increasing competition pressure on Apple comes after Huawei last month introduced its newest high-end smartphone series, Pura 70, following the launch of Mate 60 in August last year.

Apple's previous discount efforts in February appeared to help the company reduce sales declines in China. Apple's shipments in China increased by 12% in March, based on Reuters calculations based on data from the Chinese Information and Communication Technology Academy (CAICT). This shows a significant increase from the first two months of 2024, when the company experienced a 37% decline in sales.