— This is the script of CNBC's news report for China's CCTV on November 23, 2018, Friday.
The news that apple will drop the price of its new IPHONE XR in Japan comes as a surprise to many, as the relatively inexpensive phone was launched in September, pre-ordered on October 19 and fully released on October 26, less than a month before today. However, for new products to be subsidized and reduced in such a short period of time, it is rare for APPLE, not to mention any smart phone brand, and another bad news is, because it shows that the market demand for apple's cheap models is really low
It has emerged that Japanese carriers will cut the price of the iPhone XR as soon as next week in an effort to boost sales, but the extent of the cut is unclear. Apple declined to comment, and it is unclear whether it plans to offer similar price increases elsewhere or not.
In terms of price, the IPHONE XR starts at $750, down from $999 for the IPHONE XS and $1,099 for the IPHONE XS Max. While the IPHONE XR is cheaper for some Japanese consumers than several other new models, it sacrifices too many features, such as the number of screen-quality cameras and the speed of data transmission, And the interest isn't even as popular as the earlier, cheaper iPhone 8. And the emergence of this phenomenon shows that apple's strategy in another miscalculation but some viewers may be curious, why the first price reduction market is the Japanese market?
Japan is one of apple's most lucrative markets, with 46.7% of the smartphone market, the Wall Street journal cited data showing. Therefore, the introduction of such a price reduction strategy before the end of the year will help clear inventory, as we've reported before, not only the IPHONE XR, apple has cut production orders for all three new phone models, but the IPHONE XR has been cut the most, by a third.
And it is reminiscent of another, cheaper and similar model introduced in 2013, the iPhone 5c, which is also a market failure, with weak demand. That seems to be a curse on apple's lower-end models. Many apple users are willing to chase after the latest version of technology, but not so many are willing to settle for less. In particular, the rise of SAMSUNG and Chinese brands has intensified competition in the market for cheaper models, where is not apple's main battleground. We will keep an eye on this issue.