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Apple cuts price of iPhone, iPad, AirPods in China

Taking advantage of a change in the country's tax law, the company tries to spark demand.

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Justin Jaffe Managing editor
Justin Jaffe is the Managing Editor for CNET Money. He has more than 20 years of experience publishing books, articles and research on finance and technology for Wired, IDC and others. He is the coauthor of Uninvested (Random House, 2015), which reveals how financial services companies take advantage of customers -- and how to protect yourself. He graduated from Skidmore College with a B.A. in English Literature, spent 10 years in San Francisco and now lives in Portland, Maine.
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Apple has cut the prices of some of its most popular products -- including the iPhone, iPad, AirPods and Mac computers -- on its online store for Chinese consumers. Though pricing changes vary from product to product, most of the decreases are around 5 percent, according to CNBC, which first reported the news.

For example, on Apple's Chinese website, a new 64GB iPhone XR now starts at 6,199RMB, roughly equivalent to $924. It cost 6,499RMB, or approximately $968, before Monday's change.  

iPhone XR prices


iPhone XR (64GB)iPhone XR (128GB)iPhone XR (256GB)
US $749$799$899
UK £749£799£899
Australia AU$1,229AU$1,299AU$1,479
China 6,199RMB6,699RMB7,599RMB

Apple customers in China who bought a newly discounted product during the past 14 days are eligible to collect a refund for the difference, according to CNBC. Prices for these devices in other regions have not changed. 

Some third-party retailers in China had already cut iPhone prices after Apple's sales warning to investors in January. Caixin, which covers business in China, reports that Apple's decision to lower the prices of some products comes in response to a decrease in the country's value-added tax rate, from 16 percent to 13 percent, which takes effect today.

Though third-party retailers routinely offer deals and promotional pricing on Apple hardware, the company rarely discounts its own products. Last year, however, Apple began offering hundreds of dollars in incentives to customers who traded in an old iPhone when upgrading to an iPhone XS or iPhone XR. 

apple-earnings
Watch this: Apple earnings report confirms iPhone slowdown

In January, Apple CEO Tim Cook warned that the company's fiscal first-quarter revenue would be weaker than previously expected. Cook targeted China as the source for the shortfall, a region where sales of iPhones, Macs and iPads have declined.