On October 30th, "iPhone 15 Price Dive" became a hot search on Weibo. With the approaching of Double 11, the reporter found that the price of the iPhone 15 series, which has just been released for more than a month, has generally dropped from 600 yuan in JD, Tmall and other mainstream online channels of Apple, and even on Pinduoduo, Tiktok and other platforms, some products have dropped more than 1500 yuan.
In the past, Apple phones did not arbitrarily lower prices in the early stages of release, and the new phone series usually only lowered prices after the Spring Festival or during the 618 period of the following year. In addition, industry insiders believe that the price drop of the iPhone 15 series is related to the diversified channels combined with the "Double 11" promotion effect, and the choice of high-end models is becoming more diverse. Users are increasingly concerned about the cost-effectiveness of purchasing a device. Currently, domestic smartphone brands are "hot", and Huawei, Xiaomi, and others have successively launched new products. Multiple reasons have ultimately led to poor sales of the iPhone series and a "significant price drop".
Apple's "Double 11" price reduction this year is much greater than before
Based on past experience, although there was a price reduction for Apple's new phones during the previous "Double 11", the range is generally between 200 to 500 yuan. However, this year, as the "Double 11" season approaches, except for third-party channels where the price of the previous iPhone 15 series has plummeted by thousands of yuan, a reporter from Nanduwan Financial News Agency has found that official channels such as Taobao platform also offer higher promotional discounts than in previous years.
As a popular flash sale product on the "Double 11" every year, Apple's official Taobao flagship store also participates in promotional activities. A reporter from Nanduwan Financial News Agency learned that currently, the official Taobao flagship store provides "Apple Surprise Shopping Coupon". From this shopping coupon alone, the discount for iPhone 15 and 15 Plus models is 700 yuan, and the discount for 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max models is 500 yuan, Compared to the same period last year, the shopping voucher discount provided by the "Double 11" iPhone 14 series has been increased by 150 yuan.
A reporter from Nanduwan Finance News Agency found through the Pinduoduo platform's "10 billion yuan subsidy" channel that compared to the official channel price, the price of the entire iPhone 15 series has dropped, with multiple models experiencing a price drop of over a thousand yuan. The iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max full memory models have all decreased by over a thousand yuan.
As of press release, the current selling price of blue titanium metal 512GB for the 15 Pro model is 9798 yuan, a decrease of 1201 yuan; The price of the 15 Pro Max model's blue titanium 512GB memory is 10398 yuan, with a price drop of 1601 yuan; The price of 1TB titanium metal in blue and white for the 15 Pro Max model has dropped the most, with a current price of 12298 yuan, a drop of up to 1701 yuan compared to the official price.
The "Double 11" discount for Apple's self operated stores on the JD platform ranges from 500 to 751, with some models experiencing a price drop of up to 800 yuan. For example, the price discount for 256GB and 512GB memory on the iPhone 15 series is as high as 801 yuan. Without adding other coupons such as regional consumption vouchers and referring only to JD's official discounts, some models have seen a greater price reduction compared to previous years.
And in this year's rise of Apple's "new channel", Meituan Apple authorized exclusive stores iPhone 15 and 15 Plus to offer a limited time discount of 700 yuan, and 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max offer a discount of 400 yuan. The price reduction of authorized stores for hungry food is relatively low, with iPhone 15 and 15 Plus discounted by 400 yuan, and 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max discounted by 200 yuan.
Significant price reduction or lower than expected sales
In addition to e-commerce promotions, there are also views that the price drop of the iPhone 15 series is related to the unreasonable pricing of Apple's new products. In addition, various problems have emerged in the iPhone 15 series since its launch. In the current situation where the overall shipment volume of the smartphone market has declined, users are more pursuing cost-effectiveness when purchasing products. The frequent quality issues with the iPhone 15 series and its more expensive pricing compared to previous years have led to a situation where prices have plummeted due to not meeting user expectations.
According to market research firm Counterpoint Research, the global smartphone market shrank by 8% in the third quarter, reaching its lowest level in a decade, due to reduced demand for major brands including Apple (AAPL. US) and Samsung in most developed markets. In recent years, global smartphone shipments have not been ideal, and consumers tend to be more rational when purchasing smartphones, following the principle of cost-effectiveness first, resulting in longer replacement cycles.
A reporter from Nanduwan Financial News Agency found that in Apple's new iPhone 15 series, not only did ordinary models not see price reductions, but high-end models actually saw price increases. In the iPhone 15 series, products with 256GB or more have seen varying degrees of price increases, with the iPhone 15 Pro Max selling for as high as 13999 yuan, becoming the most expensive Apple phone in history. Even with promotional price reductions, the price is still above 10000 yuan.
Contrary to such high pricing, the new product has fewer highlights, lower performance improvement, and frequent issues with the iPhone 15 series since its release, which has repeatedly sparked consumer dissatisfaction.
Previously, the reporter from Nandu Bay Financial News Agency learned that the quality problems complained about on the iPhone 15 series include but are not limited to the serious fever of the new machine, the "burning screen" of the iPhone 15 series, and the fingerprint easily left on the iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max models due to the use of titanium metal. These problems have been hot searched on microblog, and have received a lot of roast on social media.
And these factors ultimately led to a decrease in sales of the iPhone 15 series. According to another report by Counterpoint Research, the sales of the iPhone 15 series within 17 days of its debut in China decreased by 4.5% compared to the iPhone 14 series released in 2022.
Intense competition in the domestic mobile phone market
Compared to the decline in sales of Apple in the domestic market, sales of domestic smartphones such as Huawei and Xiaomi have all increased. On social media, some users also expressed, "It's not that Apple can't afford it, it's just that domestic products are more cost-effective.
According to Counterpoint's latest report on smartphone sales in the third quarter of China, Apple's sales in the Chinese market decreased by 10% year-on-year, with a market share of 14.2%, ranking fourth. The top three were Honor, Vivi, and OPPO, while Huawei ranked sixth with a market share of 12.9%, with sales increasing by 37% year-on-year. In addition, Xiaomi's sales also increased by 5%.
In response, Ivan Lam, a senior analyst at Counterpoint, said, "The reason for the decline in iPhone sales is due to early channel price reductions, and subsequent official price adjustments failed to save sales in a timely manner due to missed time windows. In addition, the iPhone 15 series did not perform as well as the iPhone 14 series due to supply constraints during the initial release period
In terms of the price of domestic smartphones, Xiaomi Group CEO Lei Jun previously pointed out on Weibo that the Xiaomi 14 series, which will benchmark against Apple's iPhone 15 Pro high-end model series, will start at 3999 yuan, and the 1TB memory model price is only 4999 yuan, which is nearly twice the price of the iPhone series.
The recently popular Huawei Mate 60 Pro also starts at a price of only 6299 yuan. According to Counterpoint, Chinese smartphone manufacturers alone can sell 5 to 6 million units of the Huawei Mate 60 Pro this year, and it is expected to rise to the tens of millions level by next year.
Industry experts believe that Apple's long-standing high prices are supported by its unique performance and ecology. However, in recent years, with the improvement of domestic smartphones in performance and other aspects, Apple's advantages are gradually decreasing, making it difficult for consumers to find reasons to pay a premium when facing Apple's high prices.