Chinese retailers are offering some serious iPhone 15 discounts

Chinese e-commerce platforms including JD.com, PDD Holdings’  Pinduoduo and Alibaba’s Taobao are offering big discounts on Apple’s latest iPhone 15, with some going for up to 1,501 yuan (about US$205.14) below the retail price, reports Reuters.

Analysts say the iPhone 15 has not been selling as well in China as its predecessor. Counterpoint Research said last week that iPhone 15 sales in China were down 4.5% compared with the iPhone 14, in the first 17 days after its market launch.

iPhone 15 series unit sales for the first 17 days of sits ales in China underperformed compared to last year’s iPhone 14, according to preliminary data from Counterpoint Research’s Smartphone 360 Weekly Smartphone Sales Tracker. 

The data is in contrast to early US numbers coming in which reflect robust demand across all models, especially the Pro Max, notes the research group.

“China’s headline numbers for the 15 series are in the red, and this is a reflection of the broader decline in consumer spending,” says Counterpoint’s Mengmeng Zhang. “But the shorter pre-holiday shopping period coupled with supply mismatches on the Pro Max (with consumers shying away from blue) could push some of the demand to calendar quarter four.”

The research group says that early US numbers are in stark contrast to China, with the first 9 days of iPhone 15 sales showing double-digit increases in overall unit sales and healthy demand across Base, Pro and especially Pro Max models.

“The US is hot right now with back-to-back stellar weekends for the new iPhone. Overall reception of the 15 series has been very positive and we’re expecting a major upgrade cycle from iPhone 11 and 12 users,” says Jeff Fieldhack, Counterpoint research director for North America. “Of course, we’re talking about the first couple weeks of sales, but it’s a positive sign and takes a lot of sting off the China numbers.”