Rise of Domestic New Phones, Apple Price Cuts: iPhone 16 Series Breaks Even, Older iPhones Drop to Half Price

Rise of Domestic New Phones, Apple Price Cuts: iPhone 16 Series Breaks Even, Older iPhones Drop to Half PriceOctober just past was a lively month in the mobile phone circle, with a slew of domestic brands releasing new phones, triggering a new wave of upgrades. Facing the continuous launch of new phones from local brands, Apple is also facing enormous market competition pressure

Rise of Domestic New Phones, Apple Price Cuts: iPhone 16 Series Breaks Even, Older iPhones Drop to Half Price

October just past was a lively month in the mobile phone circle, with a slew of domestic brands releasing new phones, triggering a new wave of upgrades. Facing the continuous launch of new phones from local brands, Apple is also facing enormous market competition pressure. To stimulate consumption, Apple has opted for a price-cutting strategy, with the biggest discounts on older iPhone models, some even dropping to half price on e-commerce platforms.

According to incomplete statistics, domestic mobile phone manufacturers like vivo, OPPO, Huawei, Xiaomi, iQOO, OnePlus, and Honor have all released new products, many of which are flagship models. This wave of new phones has undoubtedly posed a significant challenge to Apple.

Older iPhones Dropped to Half Price

Recently, the topic "Domestic new phones launched, older iPhones dropped to half price" trended on Weibo. Upon investigation, on a certain e-commerce platform, the iPhone 14 128GB version is priced at 2349 yuan, which is half the price compared to the 4699 yuan on Apple's official website. It's worth noting that the iPhone 14 products at this price are limited in quantity and require certain conditions to be met for flash sales, not the regular retail price. Currently, the price of this product on JD.com is 4349 yuan.

iPhone 16 Series Experiences First Official Price Cut

In addition to price cuts on older iPhones, the iPhone 16 series also took the initiative to lower prices during Double 11, marking the first price cut from official channels since the new phones were launched. The iPhone 16 series was released in September, with the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus starting at 5999 yuan and 6999 yuan respectively.

On October 21st, "iPhone16 Official Flagship Store Breaks Even on Multiple Models" trended on Weibo. According to the promotional activities on the Tmall Apple official flagship store, all iPhone 16 models are eligible for a 500 yuan coupon, bringing the starting price down to 5499 yuan after the coupon. The iPhone 16 Pro Max starting price has been reduced to 9499 yuan, close to prices on third-party channels. Consumers can also enjoy additional trade-in subsidies of up to 1100 yuan. The iPhone 16 series is still on sale with discounts.

Besides the 500 yuan discount offered by the Tmall Apple official flagship store, the iPhone 16 series can also be purchased with a 500 yuan coupon on the JD.com self-operated Apple store.

Apple Officially Encourages Users to Upgrade

Not long ago, Apple also published an article on its official platform targeted at "iPhone wait-and-see" users, encouraging those with iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro to consider upgrading to the iPhone 16 series and offering corresponding trade-in discounts. Among them, the iPhone 14 Pro can be traded in for a maximum of 4400 yuan, and the iPhone 13 Pro for a maximum of 3400 yuan.

Apple Remains King in the High-End Market

Despite Apple's price-cutting strategy, it remains the absolute king in the high-end smartphone market. According to the latest report from market research firm Counterpoint Research, the global average selling price of smartphones in the third quarter of 2024 reached 349 US dollars (approximately 2500 yuan), a historical high. In terms of global Q3 smartphone market share and manufacturer revenue rankings, Apple ranks first, followed by Samsung, Xiaomi, OPPO, and vivo.

The average selling prices of these five manufacturers are:

• Apple: 909 US dollars (currently about 6506 yuan)

• Samsung: 295 US dollars (currently about 2111 yuan)

• OPPO: 246 US dollars (currently about 1761 yuan)

• vivo: 214 US dollars (currently about 1532 yuan)

• Xiaomi: 148 US dollars (currently about 1059 yuan)

It is evident that the average price of iPhones is the sum of Samsung, Xiaomi, and OV.

Domestic Manufacturers Vie for the High-End Market

Over the past few years, Samsung has been Apple's biggest competitor in the high-end smartphone market. Some industry observers have stated that, with a quarterly shipment threshold of 50 million units, only Apple and Samsung have reached this standard, putting them a step ahead of domestic brands. If other domestic manufacturers truly want to establish a foothold in the high-end smartphone market, taking over more market share becomes crucial.

Conclusion

The rise of domestic mobile phones has put considerable pressure on Apple, and Apple's price cuts are a response to this pressure. However, from the current perspective, Apple still firmly occupies the leading position in the high-end smartphone market. In the future, whether domestic mobile phone manufacturers can achieve breakthroughs in the high-end market will be a crucial highlight in the mobile phone market competition.