“Amid worries of an iPhone sales slowdown, Apple on Friday took steps to goose demand by expanding a promotional upgrade program for its latest iPhone XS and XR handsets to major markets around the world,” Mikey Campbell reports for AppleInsider. “In the U.S., customers can receive up to $450 when trading in an iPhone X, $350 for an iPhone 8 Plus or $300 for an iPhone 8 or iPhone 7 Plus. The higher than normal trade-in value is subsequently applied to the purchase of a new iPhone XS Max, XS or XR, effectively lowering upgrade pricing for existing iPhone owners.”
“According to regional Apple websites, similar offers are now available in Australia, Canada, China, Hong Kong, Japan, Macau, Taiwan,” Campbell reports. “Beyond North America and Asia, a clutch of European countries — Austria, Belgium, Germany, Spain, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Sweden, the UK — are also included in the promotion.”
“The limited time promotion augments Apple’s GiveBack program which normally offers prices on the low end of the trade-in spectrum,” Campbell reports. “Typically, customers can find better deals through third-party firms.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: By hook or by crook, Apple will move iPhones.
No Apple will not move iPhones. Tim Cook’s massive price increases have backfired, exactly what I thought.
The iPhone drug is over. Other smartphones are innovative and much cheaper, albeit running crap Android. But there’s a big userbase there.
I was skeptical when Apple went to market with the overpriced iPhone X last year, and this year… the prices were even more absurd.
There isn’t enough value in these things to pay these kinds of prices, plus the expensive phone bills every month.
This program may help to sell more iPhones but it will likely ruin iPhone ASPs. I’m not sure if this whole lack of iPhone sales story is being blown out of proportion, but it can’t be just happening to Apple. All smartphone manufacturers must be struggling at this point. It seems like scary times for Apple shareholders, at least in the short-term.
I’m getting my dividends and I didn’t have any intention of selling my Apple stock, so I can wait it out until Apple figures out what to do now that the smartphone market is totally saturated. However, the program seems good for those who want to upgrade their iPhones. Offering this program to consumers is better than Apple just sitting back and doing nothing. Apple has to find something else to supplement declining iPhone sales. Now that Apple has stopped reporting unit sales, we’ll never know if this program will be successful. Not that it matters if the entire stock market is going down the toilet.
This just goes to show Apple customers how little their investment is worth in a short time after they purchased an iPhone. I paid $1,000 for an iPhone 8 Plus for my daughter less than a year ago and it’s worth $350 now that a big ass kick in the ass to your customers.