February 8, 2023: Major retailers in China are cutting the price of high-end iPhone 14 models of Apple between a slump in smartphone demand in the second-huge economy.

E-commerce site JD.com, an authorized Apple distributor, is being sold the primary line of the iPhone 14 Pro for 7,199 Chinese yuan ($1,062) following an 800 yuan promotion. The essential iPhone 14 Pro Max is listed for 8,199 yuan, following an 800 yuan reduction.

Suning, one more major retailer, is selling the basic model of the iPhone 14 Pro for 7,199 following discounts and the iPhone 14 Pro Ma for 8,199.

Apple’s official China website has kept prices the same. The iPhone 14 Pro begins at 7,999 yuan, and the Pro Max starts at 8,999.

Apple tightly controls the cost of its products in China and very rarely lets third-party retailers offer steep discounts. Apple allowed retailers to slash prices in June 2020, after China re-opening its economy after tough lockdowns all over the country to battle the initial Covid outbreak.

But the cost-cutting comes following a significant slump in China’s smartphone market in the previous year. According to IDC, smartphone shipments hit 285.8 million in the year 2022, down 13.2% year-on-year to less than the 300 million mark for the initial time in ten years. IDC stated that Apple iPhone shipments decreased more than 4% year-on-year in China in 2022.

Apple reported complete sales for the December quarter were about 5% lower than the previous year’s, the initial year-over-year sales decline since 2019.

The firm faced major disruptions at its plant in Zhengzhou, China, the world’s significant iPhone factory, which Foxconn runs. A Covid outbreak hit the factory, and workers protested more than a delay in bonus payments.

However, on the company’s earnings call in the previous week, management suggested that Apple’s performance is improving in the current quarter.