Recently, there have been frequent news of Apple's price reductions and promotions. Although the iPhone 15 series, which was once praised by netizens as a "treasure trove of value," has now become a "broken bone," the sales of the iPhone 15 series, which has recently seen its highest price drop of 2000 yuan, have quietly rebounded, even not inferior to the strong period of previous years. As of May 31, a reporter from Nandouwan Finance News Agency noticed that as of May 31, the 618 smartphone racing chart on JD.com is on the charts, The iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max have been dominating the top two rankings for more than two consecutive days, and with the strength of the iPhone 15 series, Apple currently ranks first in all brand sales and all brand sales.
As is well known, the iPhone 15 series has been controversial since its release. At that time, many netizens expressed that Apple's previously disclosed self-developed AI, high refresh rate and other technologies were not launched on schedule in the iPhone 15 series, which was also an important reason why consumers were unwilling to buy them. The replacement of the "squeeze toothpaste style" has made it increasingly difficult for consumers to make the decision that "a new iPhone must be bought".
According to statistics from market research company Counterpoint, Within 17 days of its launch, the sales of the iPhone 15 series decreased by 4.5% compared to the 2022 iPhone 14 series. Barclays analysts also pointed out in their research report that the new iPhone 15 has performed mediocrely, with sales and configurations falling short of expectations. Recently, Counterpoint Research has updated the global smartphone ranking for the first quarter of 2024, with data showing a year-on-year increase of 7% in global smartphone revenue, reaching a historic high. Although Apple still leads the smartphone market in revenue with a 43% share due to its high unit price, its revenue decreased by 11% year-on-year.
As a result, Apple had no choice but to play a "price reduction card" to stimulate sales of the iPhone 15 series phones. During last year's Double 11, Apple implemented a strategy of lowering prices in the last two hours, resulting in the highest price reduction of over 1500 yuan for the iPhone 15 series shortly after its release, helping Apple become the top seller of Chinese mobile phones in that quarter.
In January of this year, Apple launched a price reduction on its official website, allowing consumers to purchase designated products through eligible payment methods, with a maximum price reduction of 800 yuan. This policy almost covers the entire range of products. However, in this discount, The highest price for the iPhone 15 series is only 500 yuan cheaper. According to a reporter from Nandouwan Finance Society, in the first two months of this year, The shipment volume of iPhones in China once decreased by 37%.
Or as a result, Apple has once again upgraded its "price reduction strategy" - in March of this year, Apple briefly lowered the starting price of the iPhone 15 series by 1000 yuan, which has affected it, The sales of iPhone in China increased by about 12% that month, a significant rebound compared to the previous two months. Starting from April, Apple's smartphone sales continued to rebound, with a growth of 52% that month. The China Academy of Information and Communications Technology released an analysis report on the domestic market operation in April, which showed that the shipment volume of foreign smartphone brands increased from 2.3 million units in the same period last year to nearly 3.5 million units, a significant increase of 52%. Among them, iPhone accounted for the vast majority of foreign smartphone brands.
However, it is worth mentioning that February to April in the Chinese market is generally the off-season for mobile phone shipments, so small increments can also bring considerable growth. Based on the data from January to April, The shipment volume of iPhones in the domestic market still shows a downward trend year-on-year, from 18.2 million units to 15.1 million units.
According to research firm IDC, Apple's share in the Chinese smartphone market decreased by 6.6% in the first quarter of this year, dropping from first place in the previous quarter to fourth place, surpassed by Honor and Huawei, with their shipments increasing by 13.2% and 110% year-on-year, respectively. The first quarter 2024 Chinese smartphone market survey report released by market analysis firm Canalys shows that the top four are all Chinese brands, namely Huawei OPPO、 Honor and vivo, while Apple has the largest decline among the top five manufacturers, with a year-on-year decrease of 25% in shipment volume, ranking fifth with a shipment volume of 10 million units.
A reporter from Nandouwan Finance News noticed that at the mid year e-commerce promotion node, Apple has once again increased its price reduction promotion efforts, especially the iPhone 15 series, which reached an unprecedented level of price reduction in this year's 618 promotion.
According to the latest news, on May 31st, JD.com once again announced an increase in Apple's price reduction, The maximum discount for iPhone 15 Pro Max is 2350 yuan, The iPhone 15 Pro has dropped by 2100 yuan. And Tmall Apple's official flagship store also carries out promotional activities, The price of the iPhone 15 coupon starts at 4599 yuan, with a discount of 1400 yuan; The iPhone 15 Pro coupon starts at 6099 yuan and offers a discount of 1900 yuan. The significant price reduction promotion method has made the price of the iPhone 15 similar to that of high-end models from domestic mobile phone brands, and the combination of platform coupons provides a maximum discount of 2000 yuan, making the iPhone 15 series more attractive.
And this measure also allowed Apple to achieve good profits in the early stages of the 618 promotion. According to a search by a reporter from Nandouwan Finance Society, this year's Tmall 618 Consumer Festival was launched at 8pm on May 20th. Within one hour of its launch, Apple's transaction volume in the mobile digital market exceeded 1.5 billion yuan. According to the JD 618 racing chart, The iPhone 15 Pro remained at the top of the charts for 17 days, selling over 20000 units within a week; The iPhone 15 is also in the top five on the leaderboard, with over 2 million people purchasing it and selling 10000 units within a week. As of May 31st, The iPhone 15 Pro Max ranked first on Tmall's best-selling mobile phone list and remained at the top for a week; The iPhone 15 also followed closely behind, dominating the top three for a week. It can be seen that Apple has achieved a rebound in sales through continuous promotions in China.
A consumer who recently purchased the Apple iPhone 15 Pro told Nandouwan Finance News Agency, "An apple that has been reduced by a few hundred yuan is not worth this price, but an apple that is 2000 yuan cheaper is really delicious."
However, some professionals have interpreted that the strategy of "exchanging discounts for growth" can easily create uncertainty for Apple's future development. Previously, during last year's "Double 11", Apple used the last two hours of price reduction strategy, which made many consumers who made the first wave of price reductions feel "stabbed". Frequent discounts on new phones can easily make consumers feel that Apple's sense of luxury is no longer there, and may also lead to longer phone replacement cycles.