Five months after its release, major Chinese third-party retailers JD.com, TMall, and Pinduoduo are fighting for customers by slashing prices on Apple’s iPhone 15, even if sales of the American tech giant are slowing down in China.

The most recent round of reductions follows similar large discounts from internet merchants in October. Discounts of up to 10% are also available from independent merchants for Apple’s iPhone 14 Pro.

In an effort to increase demand, Apple periodically permits its Chinese partner vendors to provide discounts on its phones. The release of the iPhone 15 coincided with a decline in Apple’s sales in China, where local competitors like Xiaomi and Huawei are putting more pressure on the company.

In a rare move, Apple last month offered discounts of up to 500 yuan on iPhones on its official sites.
According to checks conducted by Reuters, third-party shops were discounting all four iPhone 15 series models on Thursday, including the iPhone 15, iPhone 15 Plus, iPhone 15 Pro, and iPhone 15 Pro Max. Some models were available for as little as 1,300 yuan ($180.68) less than their regular price.

The three online merchants have labelled the price reductions as part of the upcoming International Women’s Day campaign, which occurs on March 8th, but they have not stated how long the deals will run. The price reductions were reported by the local media.

Requests for response from Apple, JD.com, Alibaba, the company running the Tmall platform, and PDD were not immediately answered.

Retailers and customers have been in a “value for money” war as the economy slows down, with a particular emphasis on discounts around some of the biggest shopping holidays and events.
Reuters’ investigations reveal that Pinduoduo is selling the 128GB iPhone 15 for 4,588 yuan on its website, which is 1,411 yuan cheaper than Apple’s suggested retail price of 5,999 yuan.
The premier e-commerce site of JD.com is offering the 256GB iPhone 15 Pro Max, which normally retails for 9,999 yuan on Apple’s store, for 8,899 yuan.

(Adapted from CNBC.com)