Apple Jumps Into Price Cuts As China Reopens Economy

China is launching a great reopening of its economy. Apple wants to get a big slice of consumers’ dollars.

The company is gearing up for a major online shopping festival, called 6.18, by cutting the prices of its phones on the various selling channels, including Alibaba-owned eCommerce site Tmall and on Apple’s official reseller, JD.com.

For example, CNBC reported that on Tmall, users can buy an iPhone 11 64GB model for 4,779 yuan ($669.59), down around 13 percent from its previous selling price.

Apple has already benefited from the gradual reopening of China, the world’s second-largest economy, as the COVID-19 crisis in that country eases.

However, Apple’s official Chinese website does not yet show the price cuts, though the company will take part in the online shopping event.

For its part, Tmall rival JD.com has even better bargains. The iPhone 11 Pro Max can be had for as much as 21 percent off, according to June 1 numbers.

JD.com told CNBC that that the reseller’s discounts may vary day by day. A JD spokesman said that the sales volume of Apple products was up significantly during the first hour of sales on June 1.

The 6.18 online event officially takes places on June 18, but discounts often run over a number of days.

“The cheaper iPhones are actually attracting quite a lot of attention these days,” said Nicole Peng, vice president of mobility at Canalys. He said that Apple is “trying to target the older generation” who may own older models — such as the iPhone 6, iPhone 7 and iPhone 8. “They don’t want to spend much more compared to what they previously spent, but they will need a device upgrade,” he told the network.

The iPhone SE is the cheapest.

Apple’s price cuts take place against the backdrop of countries around the globe looking to reopen. However, consumers remain wary and the cost of the COVID-19 pandemic to the economy remains to be seen.

The final financial toll of the coronavirus will likely be a reduction of $7.9 trillion to the U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) until 2030, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said Monday (June 1).

That number includes the massive stimulus packages approved to date by Congress, which has numbered in the multitrillions, with aid going to both businesses and individuals.