Track Hyper | Apple "joins forces" with Huawei to cut prices, do these two have an agreement?

No one could have imagined that Apple's new phone, which has been on the market for less than six months, would actually initiate a second round of price cuts, leading to the topic of "Apple suddenly lowering prices" trending on Weibo on January 2.

Compared to the "price reduction" measures subsidized by third-party platforms when the iPhone 16 series was just launched (September 13, 2024), this time it is a direct price reduction activity launched by Apple's official website: Apple's China website announced the "Chizha Welfare" New Year promotion, which will start from January 4 to 7.

This is quite rare for Apple's new devices.

Generally speaking, Apple phones will launch promotions for older models or direct price reductions during domestic "618" or "Double Eleven" e-commerce shopping festivals; abroad, they usually offer certain discounts during traditional Western shopping festivals, with some products possibly seeing varying amounts of price cuts or receiving gift cards, headphones, and other accessories.

However, the promotional activities launched by Apple's official website this time cover multiple products, including the iPhone 16 series and MacBook Air. Among them, the iPhone 16 series has a maximum price reduction of 800 yuan.

The innovations in the iPhone 16 series are minimal, with little difference from previous models. When this new device was released, it actually faced consumers' ruthless "short selling," with a significant number of users clearly expressing disappointment, saying things like, "Very disappointed, what is this? I stayed up all night for nothing," which received high praise.

In actual sales, the iPhone 16 series indeed matched those disappointed sentiments, with relatively low sales that did not meet market expectations.

During the 2024 Double Eleven e-commerce festival, just one month after the release of the iPhone 16 series, the entire series saw its first price cut: the iPhone 16 series sold on third-party platforms could receive a 500 yuan coupon, with post-coupon prices starting at 5,499 yuan; after a 500 yuan discount, the starting price of the iPhone 16 Pro Max dropped to 9,499 yuan.

Tianfeng International analyst Ming-Chi Kuo stated (September 16, 2024) that the sales of the iPhone 16 series were lower than expected. Kuo indicated that the pre-order sales of the iPhone 16 series during the first weekend were about 37 million units, a decrease of approximately 12.7% compared to the same period last year with the iPhone 15 series, which was below Apple's expectations.

Kuo believes that the key reason for the lower-than-expected sales of the iPhone 16 Pro series is that Apple's biggest selling point, Apple Intelligence, could not be launched alongside the iPhone 16, while fierce competition in the Chinese market has also reduced iPhone demand.

When Apple first launched Apple Intelligence on June 10, 2024, the envisioned experience was relatively average. Although the secondary market had high expectations for the market prospects of Apple Intelligence, the actual consumer market response can be described as lukewarm, failing to trigger a buying frenzy.

This second round of price cuts initiated by Apple in the Chinese market may be understood from Kuo's second viewpoint—that fierce competition in the Chinese market has reduced iPhone demand, even though Apple has not provided any explanation for this price reduction Ming-Chi Kuo also mentioned that if Apple Intelligence, which is set to launch in the fourth quarter of 2024, does not significantly boost the sales of the iPhone 16 series during China's Double Eleven shopping festival, Apple will adopt a more aggressive product strategy in 2025 to stimulate market demand.

Currently, Apple Intelligence has not been implemented in the iPhone 16 series sold in China, and Apple Intelligence is the biggest selling point of the iPhone 16 series. The absence of Apple Intelligence in the iPhone 16 series has resulted in a cooling reception in China, leading to another price drop in the short term.

This price reduction is likely not the final price point for the iPhone 16 series. Just like the attitude of Chinese consumers towards Apple's price drop—"If you don't buy, I won't buy; it should drop another 800."

Ming-Chi Kuo mentioned that Apple faces fierce competition in the Chinese market. Wall Street Journal noted that Huawei, Apple's biggest competitor in China, also launched a rare price reduction promotion at the end of 2024.

The latest price reduction promotion initiated by Huawei officially involves multiple models, including the entire Huawei Pura 70 series, Pocket 2, and Mate X5. Among them, the Huawei Pura 70 Ultra has a maximum discount of 2000 yuan, and the Mate X5 has a discount of 2500 yuan.

Huawei's official mall shows that Huawei has launched a New Year promotion themed "Embracing New Beginnings, Achieving Year After Year," which runs from December 20, 2024, to February 16, 2025, covering the entire period around the Spring Festival.

Specifically, the Pura 70 Ultra has a maximum discount of 2000 yuan, with a discounted price starting at 7499 yuan; the Pura 70 Pro+ has a discount of 1300 yuan, with a discounted price starting at 6699 yuan; the Pura 70 Pro has a discount of 1100 yuan, with a discounted price starting at 5399 yuan; and the Pura 70 has a discount of 800 yuan, with a discounted price starting at 4699 yuan.

Apple and Huawei have both launched price reduction measures in the Chinese market, and the discounted models are all high-end flagships. Will this trigger other domestic smartphone manufacturers to follow suit? What trend changes does this price reduction behavior signify? Currently, neither of these companies nor the entire industry has provided corresponding explanations, so time will ultimately reveal the answer