China’s 618 sales festival proved another tough gig for most smartphone brands this year, with the market as a whole experiencing a year-on-year drop of 8%.
Apple managed to precisely reverse this, enjoying an 8% increase in iPhone sales in this year’s shopping event, but that did come at a cost …
China’s 618 sales festival
The 618 sales festival is effectively China’s Black Friday – or perhaps more accurately Cyber Monday, as it’s all about online sales. The name derives from the date: the sixth month and 18th day, though it actually runs from June 1 to June 18.
It originally started as a promotion for the June 18 anniversary of e-commerce giant JD.com, but was later adopted by other online sales companies to become one of the most popular times for people to make major online purchases. Big discounts are offered to drive sales.
Weak sales, but Apple bucking the trend
Counterpoint Research says that overall sales were down this year, smartphone brands pulling in some 8% less revenue than they did in 2022. But Apple was one of only two brands to see an increase.
China’s smartphone sales fell 8% YoY during the 618 sales period in 2023 (June 1-June 18), indicating weak customer demand for smartphones amid economic headwinds, according to Counterpoint’s 618 Sales Period Thematic Report […]
Apple continued to excel in the premium segment, exhibiting an 8% YoY increase without facing any significant competition.
But significant discounting required
However, that increase didn’t come cheap, the research company reporting that typical iPhone discounts were in the region of 20%.
Apple had long maintained an official policy of not discounting its products in China, while quietly doing so by offering the discounts to third-party resellers instead, who then passed them on to consumers.
That changed for the first time last year, when it offered discounts on a range of products on the official Apple China website. Discounted products included the iPhone 13, iPhone SE, iPhone 12/12 mini, Apple Watch SE, AirPods Pro, and AirPods (3rd generation).
Even so, Apple’s discounts are generally rather modest, so 20% is significant.
Builds on Apple’s relative success last year
In last year’s 618 festival, iPhone sales were down 4% year-on-year – but that was actually good news for the company, given that the smartphone market as a whole fell by a massive 25%.
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