Apple iPhone 15 already being discounted on Chinese e-commerce sites in run up to Double 11 sales festival

Apple's latest iPhone 15 series is already being offered at significant discounts on Chinese e-commerce platforms in anticipation of the upcoming Double 11 online sales festival. The iconic smartphone is facing fierce competition from Huawei Technologies' Mate 60 Pro 5G handset. The iPhone 15 and 15 Plus were being sold for approximately 800 yuan (US$109) and 900 yuan less than their official retail prices on Alibaba Group Holding's Taobao platform. On PDD Holdings' Pinduoduo, the basic 128-gigabyte iPhone 15 was being sold for 5,198 yuan, 801 yuan less than its retail price. Apple, which typically maintains strict control over the retail pricing of its products, along with Pinduoduo and Alibaba, did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Monday. The discounts are part of the build-up to China's Double 11 Global Sales Festival, also known as Singles’ Day, which takes place on November 11 each year. During this event, domestic e-commerce giants compete to offer the 'best price guarantees' to attract Chinese consumers amid economic challenges. Alibaba's Taobao and Tmall Group will commence presales for Singles’ Day on the evening of October 24, with expectations of attracting about 1 billion consumers this year. Sales of the iPhone 15 series have been weaker than its predecessor in China, according to market consultancy Counterpoint Research. The first 17 days of sales of the iPhone 15 series in China were down 4. 5 per cent compared to the iPhone 14. This is indicative of a broader decline in consumer spending, as noted by Counterpoint analyst Mengmeng Zhang. Apple, based in Cupertino, California, is also facing stiff competition from China's national tech champion Huawei, which surprised the market in September, just ahead of the iPhone 15’s launch, with its new Mate 60 Pro that features a powerful home-grown chip in defiance of US trade sanctions. According to a Bloomberg report, Jefferies analysts led by Edison Lee have estimated that sales of the iPhone 15 in China were down by a sharp double-digit percentage from its predecessor the iPhone 14. During its initial six weeks of sales, Huawei shipped more than 1. 6 million units of the Mate 60 series to Chinese consumers, with weekly sales exceeding 400,000 units during the last two weeks. In September, Huawei increased its sales target for the second half of 2023 by 20 per cent, aiming for a full-year total sales volume of 40 million smartphones, buoyed by the popularity of its Mate 60 series.