Folks stand in entrance of an Apple retailer in Beijing, China, on April 9, 2025.
Tingshu Wang | Reuters
Apple on Friday raised the amount of cash individuals can get off their subsequent iPhone in China by buying and selling of their previous machine, rolling out additional incentives to spur demand in an important market.
The iPhone 15 Professional Max now has a trade-in worth of as much as 5,700 Chinese language yuan ($791), a rise from 5,625 yuan beforehand. For reference, a model new iPhone 15 Professional Max begins at 7,999 yuan in China. The iPhone 15 Professional mannequin can now be traded in for as much as 4,750 yuan, up from 4,725 prior.
There are additionally trade-in worth will increase throughout different fashions too.
Apple has seemed to offer discounts over the past yr, particularly round vacation intervals in China. Whereas the tennis hikes will not be enormous, they sign Apple’s ongoing want to provoke gross sales on the earth’s second largest financial system, the place it has confronted falling market share and declining gross sales amid more durable competitors from native rivals.
Within the first quarter of the yr, Apple’s China shipments fell 8% year-on-year, whereas the corporate’s share of the smartphone market within the nation declined from 15% to 13%, in keeping with knowledge from Canalys. Apple additionally reported this month that gross sales in its Larger China area, which incorporates Hong Kong and Taiwan, fell barely on an annual foundation.
However Apple’s China headache goes past gross sales to questions over its provide chain and merchandise. Whereas U.S. President Donald Trump has paused most tariffs on China for now, there’s nonetheless an ongoing discussion about whether or not chips and different electronics could obtain a particular responsibility.
Apple, which makes round 90% of its iPhones in China through its manufacturing associate Foxconn, has been trying to transfer extra manufacturing to India — although Trump has additionally voiced displeasure with that. The White House leader said this month that he told Apple CEO Tim Cook he does not need the corporate constructing merchandise in India and would relatively them make gadgets within the U.S.
Apple’s largest challengers quantity Xiaomi and Huawei, with the latter seeing a surprising revival in its dwelling market over the past 17 months due to breakthroughs in chips and aggressive launches of new devices.
Xiaomi, which was the largest participant by market share in China within the first quarter, has in the meantime been ramping up its presence in the high-end device space to immediately compete with Apple. On Thursday, the corporate launched the Xiaomi 15S Pro smartphone that incorporates an in-house developed chip — one thing only a few corporations on the earth have managed to do efficiently.
Xiaomi has additionally committed nearly $7 billion to develop extra chips over the subsequent 10 years, signaling its ambition to compete with Apple and Huawei.