Apple slashed the prices of its smartphones in China due to weakening sales. While it did pick up for a few weeks, analysts are of the opinion that it won’t do much to change things overall.
The Chinese smartphone market recorded a drop in sales of 12.8% year-on-year with Apple and Samsung accounting for 50% of that figure. Apple decided to cut the price of its 2017 and 2018 phones which actually resulted in an increase in sales. However, analysts from Rosenblatt Securities and UBS have said the drop in prices won’t have a significant impact on overall sales.
Jun Zhang, the Rosenblatt analysts said: “After analyzing recent data points from Chinese retail channels, we believe price cuts provided little benefit to iPhone sales in the Chinese market”. He added that a “lack of design changes” in the market won’t increase demand.
UBS’s Timothy Arcuri is reported to have said “…..Apple’s price adjustments to offset the currency impact are not yet having much positive impact on iPhone units,”. However, he believes February and march will be “more important indicators”.
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Apple’s case may worsen as the US-China trade war doesn’t seem to be resolved soon. Also, its Chinese competitors such as Huawei and Xiaomi will launch (or in the case of the latter – has already launched) new flagships that cost less than Apple’s current offerings.
