On October 30, "iPhone15 price diving" appeared on Weibo hot search. With the approach of double 11, the reporter searched and found that the iPhone 15 series, which has just been on sale for more than a month, has generally reduced prices from 600 yuan in mainstream online channels such as Jingdong and Tmall, and even on platforms such as Pinduoduo and Douyin, some products have dropped by more than 1500 yuan.
In the past, Apple mobile phones did not arbitrarily reduce prices at the beginning of their releases, and the price of new phone series was generally reduced after the Spring Festival or during the 618 period of the following year. In addition, some industry insiders believe that the price of the iPhone 15 series plunge is related to the diversification of channels and the "double 11" promotion effect, and the choice of high-end models is becoming more and more diversified, and users are more and more concerned about the cost performance of the purchase.
Apple's "Double 11" price reduction this year is far greater than in the past
According to past experience, although in the previous "Double 11", Apple's new machine also reduced its price, but the range was generally between 200-500 yuan. However, this year, approaching the "Double 11", the price of the former iPhone 15 series in addition to the third-party channel diving thousands of yuan, the reporter of Nandu Bay Finance Society combed and found that the promotional discounts of official channels such as Taobao platform are also higher than in previous years.
As a popular rush to buy products every year"Double 11",Apple Taobao official flagship store will also participate in preferential activities,Nandu Bay Finance Society reporter learned,At present,Taobao official flagship store provides"Apple surprise shopping coupons",Only for this shopping coupon,iPhone 15 and 15 Plus models are discounted by 700 yuan,15 Pro and 15 Pro Max models are discounted by 500 yuan,All compared with the same period last year"Double 11"iPhone 14 series shopping coupon discount increased by 150 yuan。
The reporter of Nandu Bay Finance Society combed through the "tens of billions of subsidies" channel of the Pinduoduo platform and found that compared with the price of official channels, the current price of the entire series of iPhone 15 has dived, the price of many models has dropped by more than 1,000 yuan, and the iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max all-memory models have dropped by more than 1,000.
As of press time, the 15 Pro model blue titanium 512GB is currently priced at 9798 yuan, down 1201 yuan; 15 Pro Max model blue titanium 512GB memory is priced at 10398 yuan, and the price is down 1601 yuan; The price of the 15 Pro Max model's blue and white titanium 1TB has dropped the most, and the current price is 12298 yuan, which is as low as 1701 yuan compared with the official price.
Jingdong platform Apple's self-operated store"Double 11"Discount is between500-751,The price of some models has dropped by up to 800 yuan,For exampleiPhone 15 series256GB and 512GB memory price discount is as high as 801 yuan,Without superimposing other coupons such as regional consumption coupons, etc.,Only refer to the official discount of Jingdong,Some models have also reduced their prices more than in previous years。
Among them, Meituan's Apple authorized stores offer a limited-time discount of 700 yuan for iPhone 15 and 15 Plus, and a discount of 400 yuan for 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max. The price reduction of Ele.me authorized stores is relatively low, among them, the price of the iPhone 15 and 15 Plus is 400 yuan, and the 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max are 200 yuan.
Significant price reductions may be due to sales not as expected
In addition to e-commerce promotions, there are also opinions that the price of the iPhone 15 series has plunged and is related to the unreasonable pricing of Apple's new products, in addition, the iPhone 15 series has been full of problems since its debut, and at the moment when the overall shipments of the smartphone market are declining, users are more cost-effective when buying products. However, the frequent quality problems of the iPhone 15 series and its more expensive pricing than in previous years have led to a situation where users do not meet their expectations, and the price has plummeted.
The global smartphone market shrank 8% in the third quarter, reaching its lowest level in a decade, due to lower demand for major brands, including Apple (AAPL.US) and Samsung, in most developed markets, according to market research firm Counterpoint Research. In recent years, global smartphone shipments have been less than ideal, and consumers tend to be rational in purchasing mobile phones, and they are more following the principle of cost-effective first when buying mobile phones, and the replacement cycle is getting longer and longer.
The reporter of Nandu Bay Finance Society combed and found that Apple's new iPhone 15 series, not only did the price of ordinary models not be reduced, but the price of high-end models increased, in the iPhone 15 series, products above 256GB have increased in price to varying degrees, among them, iPhone 15 Pro Max The price is as high as 13999 yuan, becoming the most expensive Apple mobile phone in history, even if there is a promotional price reduction, the price is still more than 10,000 yuan.
What is inconsistent with such a high price is that the new product has fewer highlights, lower performance improvements, and the iPhone 15 series has had frequent problems since its release, causing consumer dissatisfaction many times.
Previously, the reporter of Nandu Bay Finance Society had learned that the quality problems of the iPhone 15 series were complained about, including but not limited to the serious heating of the new machine, the "screen burning" of the iPhone 15 series, and the iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max models are easy to leave fingerprints due to the use of titanium, etc., These problems have been on Weibo hot searches and have been complained about a lot on social media.
These factors have also contributed to the decline in iPhone 15 series sales, with another report from Counterpoint Research showing that sales of the iPhone 15 series within 17 days of its debut in China were down 4.5% compared to the iPhone 14 series released in 2022.
The domestic mobile phone market is highly competitive
Compared with Apple's declining sales in the domestic market, the sales of domestic smartphones such as Huawei and Xiaomi have increased. And some users on social media said, "It's not that Apple can't afford it, it's just that domestic products are more cost-effective."
Counterpoint's latest release of China's third-quarter smartphone sales shows that Apple's mobile phone sales in the Chinese market fell 10% year-on-year in the third quarter, and its market share fell to 14.2%, ranking fourth, the top three are Honor, vivi, and OPPO, while Huawei ranked sixth with a market share of 12.9%, with sales up 37% year-on-year, in addition, Xiaomi's sales also increased by 5%.
In this regard, Ivan Lam, senior analyst at Counterpoint, said, "The reason for the decline in iPhone sales is that the channel cut prices in advance, and the official subsequent price adjustment failed to save sales in time due to missing the time window." In addition, the iPhone 15 series did not perform as well as the iPhone 14 series due to supply constraints in the early days of its release. ”
As far as the price of domestic smartphones is concerned, Xiaomi Group CEO Lei Jun previously pointed out on Weibo that the Xiaomi 14 series, which will be benchmarked against Apple's iPhone 15 Pro high-end model series, has a starting price of 3999 yuan, and the price of 1TB memory models is only 4999 yuan, which is nearly double the price difference from the iPhone series.
And the Huawei Mate 60 Pro, which was quite popular some time ago, has a starting price of only 6299 yuan. According to Counterpoint, Chinese smartphone manufacturers can sell 5 million ~ 6 million units of the Huawei Mate 60 Pro alone this year, and it is expected that it may rise to 10 million by next year.
Some industry experts believe that Apple's long-term high price is supported by its unique performance and ecology, but in recent years, with the improvement of domestic smartphones in terms of performance and other aspects, Apple's advantages are gradually decreasing, making it difficult for consumers to find a reason to pay a premium in the face of Apple's high price.
Written by: Nandu Bay Finance Society reporter Kong Xueshao intern Zhu Kexuan