This is despite a 40 per cent increase in iPhone shipments this quarter

Chinese retailers are cutting iPhone 8 prices before iPhone X was written by Frank Hersey for TechNode.

Major retailers in China have significantly cut the price of the new iPhone 8 and 8 Plus models before the release of the more eagerly anticipated iPhone X on November 3. Yet iPhone shipments are up 40% in China according to Reuters.

Response worldwide has been muted and in the US figures suggest that the iPhone 7 has outsold the iPhone 8 since its release as people wait for the more advanced iPhone X (pronounced ‘ten’). In China there were no signs of queues on the model’s launch and, as we reported, scalpers were having to discount the handsets they’d prematurely snapped up.

 

Now the price cuts have gone mainstream. Apple is still selling the handsets at the original asking price, but other major retailers are making cuts of up to 20 per cent, neutralising and even dropping below the price difference in Hong Kong.

Also Read: iPhone 8 Plus cracks open for two users in Asia, batteries may be to blame

Suning has cut the price of the most basic 64GB iPhone 8 from RMB 5,888 (US$888) to RMB 4,768 (US$719), a saving of RMB 1,120 (US$169) or 19 per cent. The top of the range 256GB 8 Plus has dropped from RMB 7,988 (US$1,205) to RMB 6,878 (US$1,038), saving shoppers RMB 1,110 (US$167.50) or 13.9 per cent.

JD.com has cut the cost of the iPhone 8 in its authorised reseller store. They’ve knocked off RMB 1,111 (to match the 11/11 sales day) — US$167 — to make the 64GB  iPhone 8 RMB 4,777 (US$720.70) and the 64GB 8 Plus is down RMB 900 (US$135.80) to RMB 5,788 (US$873).

The above price cuts have nudged the cost of the handsets to below the official price in Hong Kong, the traditional preferred shopping ground for mainland customers (and smugglers).

Despite the discounts, research firm Canalys has been quoted by Reuters as finding that iPhone shipments in China have increased 40 per cent in Q3 YoY to reach 11 million units, making it Apple’s most successful quarter in China for 8 quarters.

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