It looks like Apple is taking some steps it would rather not take in order to boost sales of one of its newest iPhones, which also happens to be the least expensive of its newest iPhones.
After being dogged by reports that it has cut orders from some iPhone component providers, and that it is seeing weaker-than-expected demand going into the end-of-the-year Christmas and holiday shopping season, Apple has been offering subsidies to some mobile-phone network operators in Japan on the company’s new iPhone XR.
According the Wall Street Journal, the iPhone XR has proven such as disappointment to Apple so far that the company has, in effect, cut the price of the phone for Japanese carriers as a way to get them to stoke consumer interest in the smartphone. Those carriers in Japan are said to be set to lower the iPhone XR price by next week.
The iPhone XR, which starts at $749, was released as a slightly lower-priced alternative to Apple’s iPhone XS ($999, to start), and the iPhone XS Max, which comes with a $1,099 introductory price tag.
Japan remains one of Apple’s biggest revenue markets, and accounted for $5.16 billion of Apple’s $62.9 billion in fiscal fourth-quarter sales this year. Revenue from Japan is also growing at a higher rate than in any of Apple’s geographical regions, as year-over-year sales in the country climbed by 34 percent in the company’s fourth quarter, which ended September 29.
The Journal also said Apple has re-started production of the iPhone X, which originally came out in 2017, and that Apple had stopped selling at its own stores in Japan. The move is said to be in order to fill a gap in sales left by the iPhone XR, and appeal to customers who don’t want to pay $1,000 or more for either the iPhone XS or iPhone XS Max.
The report said it is not yet known if Apple will offer similar subsidies, and lower prices, to carriers in the United States and other markets.
