At present, all indications have shown that Apple's spring new product launch this year may not be far away, the legendary "iPhone SE 3" is coming, and even a few days ago, there is news that the current iPhone SE will be reduced to $199 sales. However, just when the majority of consumers imagined being able to buy a thousand-yuan iPhone, there were recent reports showing that they could only pay 88 yuan a month to get into the iPhone 13 series.
It is reported that Apple recently launched a 36-issue interest-free installment business in the Japanese market to enhance the attractiveness of iPhone models in this region. This service is provided through The Paidy of the American Online Payment Company PayPal, and in addition to being interest-free for 3 years in installments, the official also provides local consumers with the service of upgrading the new iPhone in the 24th month. If the user replaces the new iPhone after two years, then the replaced mobile phone will enter Apple's official old-for-new process, and the remaining installment fee will not have to be repaid, relative to the right to spend 2/3 of the price, which can be exchanged for the right to use the new iPhone for 2 years.
According to the current price published on Apple's official website in Japan, when purchasing the highest-positioned iPhone 13 Pro Max 1TB version, the full price is 194,800 yen, and it needs to pay back 5,411 yen per month, about 298 yuan. When buying the minimum iPhone 13 mini, the minimum monthly payment is only 1600 yen, which is about 88 yuan.
The design of this set of installment payments can be described as the psychology of consumers in place, so there is currently a view that perhaps starting from the Japanese market, Apple's 36 installments of interest-free services will be rolled out around the world in the future.
So why is Apple starting to launch a 36-installment interest-free service in the Japanese market at this point in time? Some insiders believe that perhaps because Japan is the region with the best iPhone user base in addition to Apple's base North American market, and in the Japanese market, the market share of iOS and Android is close to the same. However, previous statistics from Japanese MMD research companies show that the market share of the iPhone has declined in recent years.
According to MMD's survey of users of Japan's NTT DoCoMo, KDDI, and SoftBank, the price of the iPhone has increased year by year as the key to preventing them from continuing to use it. Therefore, it is obviously a very good choice to lower the purchase threshold of consumers by installments and interest-free, thereby stimulating their desire to buy.
Seeing this, you may think that this is apple's benefit to consumers in the Japanese market, but it may not be the case. According to Apple's current implementation of the 24 installments of interest-free, at the 2% interest rate is equivalent to a 96% discount, the 36 installment discount is obviously higher, but for Apple, while paying not too high a price, but gained a user who is "loyal" for at least three years.
At the same time, Apple also provides a solution to recycle the old machine at the end of the second year, which is equivalent to if the user has been using the iPhone and replacing it every two years, it is equivalent to 66% off every time, which is undoubtedly a great temptation for consumers. So although at first glance, the 36 installments of interest-free is to give consumers the opportunity to raise the wool, but it also invisibly raises the threshold of consumers, so that consumers can accept the iPhone has always maintained a relatively high pricing strategy.
In fact, Apple's move is actually difficult to "lose". Because unlike the Android camp, Apple is the absolute controller of the iOS camp, users need to download software to make the phone "smart" after purchasing an iPhone, and downloading applications often means that further consumption may occur, and Apple can naturally use the App Store to make money. What's more, there are value-added services provided by Apple such as Apple Music in the iOS ecosystem, so as long as consumers become loyal users, it is easy to earn back 36 interest-free "wool" in the life cycle of the iPhone.
Therefore, there is a view that the 36-period installment interest-free is actually more like a bait for consumers, which is to expand the scale of iOS users by lowering the threshold for consumption purchases. But in such a good way, why did Apple not use it before? In fact, the reason may be very simple, because consumers' desire to buy is declining, so Apple has to "sell". Don't look at the unprecedented success of the iPhone 13 series, but this is mainly due to the Greater China region that has come out of the shadow of the epidemic.
According to the report "Winning the Smartphone Market Replacement Users" released by market research agency Strategy Analytics last fall, in consumer surveys in China, the United States, and the United Kingdom, Chinese consumers have the highest desire to change machines, with an average replacement cycle of 28 months, the average replacement cycle of British users is 38 months, and the average replacement cycle of American consumers is 41 months. And recently ReportedPoint Research announced that the average replacement cycle of global consumers is 31 months.
These data undoubtedly show that consumers are less and less fond of changing mobile phones. Among them, there are naturally reasons for the reduction of the innovation of smart phone products at present, after all, the last time consumers were concerned about the concept of a full screen, it was 5 years ago. More importantly, the current price of smart phones is rising, coupled with the impact of the epidemic, the purchasing power of many consumers is also declining. In the face of this situation, Apple did temporarily curb the iPhone's price increase momentum in the past two years, but that was all.
In addition, due to the black swan of the epidemic has hit the semiconductor industry hard, resulting in the rising cost of components that smart phones rely on, it is not easy for mobile phone manufacturers to maintain prices without rising. Therefore, in such a situation, extending the period of interest-free installments is undoubtedly a way to significantly reduce consumer perception, after all, the experience of paying 88 yuan and 198 yuan per month is completely different.
Therefore, it can only be said that at the moment when consumers are stingy with changing machines, even Apple needs to find ways to please consumers.