Not worth it? Chinese resellers cut iPhone prices after Apple bombshell warning

China-based retailers have rolled out huge discounts on Apple phones, including the latest iPhone XR model. The generous offering comes after the US giant had to issue a rare gloomy revenue forecast for its sales in the country.

Suning, one of the largest retailers in China, part of which is owned by Alibaba, and another massive e-commerce company JD.com have slashed the prices for Apple phones this week.

Several models from the latest iPhone XR to earlier iPhone 7 and 8 were being sold at lower prices on Suning website. As of Friday afternoon, Apple fans could get a 128-gigabyte XR with up to a 1,200 yuan ($178) or 17 percent discount. The phone was initially selling for 6,999 yuan ($1,038), and the website cut the price to 6,199 yuan ($919) and offered consumers an additional 400 yuan coupon to cut the price even more to 5,799 yuan ($858). The offer expires in three days, according to the retailer’s website.

Meanwhile, an iPhone 8 with a 64-gigabyte capacity was selling below 3,900 yuan ($578) on the platform, while official Apple website did not change any prices for the region and was offering the same model for $178 more. 

Beijing-based Jd.com cut the prices to almost the same level as Suning, allowing iPhone-hungry buyers to get XR with128 storage at 6099 yuan ($899). However, the model, alongside its cheaper version with lower capacity, was out of stock on the platform as Friday afternoon.

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On Thursday, Yahoo Finance reported that the Silicon Valley tech giant slashed the price of the iPhone XR for partner sellers in China by about $100 in an attempt to boost sales.

The move comes shortly after Apple boss Tim Cook announced that the company’s revenue is to be lower than expected in the first quarter of 2019, blaming worse sales in China for the gloomy forecast. The news has crashed the US markets and sent the company’s shares into a nosedive on January 3, however it has partly bounced earlier this week.

Chinese telecom giants themselves have what to offer to the large domestic market instead of overpriced Apple products, the former commissioner at the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and host of RT’s Boom Bust’s Bart Chilton earlier said.

“An average person there [in China] makes $10,000 a year, so you’re selling them a $1,200, $1,500 iPhone... when they could get a Huawei phone, that’s Chinese manufacturing, for 500 bucks with all the same bells and whistles that an iPhone can have, what do you expect?” he told RT America. 

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