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November 1, 2017

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Chinese vendors cut prices of iPhone 8

CHINESE vendors have slashed the price of Apple’s iPhone 8 by up to a fifth in a bid to lure customers amid sluggish demand ahead of the launch of the tech giant’s much-anticipated iPhone X on Friday.

Buyers can now snap up Apple’s new iPhone 8 Plus and the more basic iPhone 8 models at discounts of between nearly 14 percent and 20 percent in China’s mainland, where iPhones have been known to change hands for as much as four times the price in Hong Kong.

The move comes as data from research firm Canalys shows Apple’s China smartphone shipments grew 40 percent in the third quarter from a year ago to 11 million units, marking the US company’s best performance in China in eight quarters.

Some analysts, however, cautioned whether that could be sustained.

“Apple’s growth this quarter is only temporary. The high sell-in caters to the pent-up demand of iPhone upgraders in the absence of the iPhone X,” said Canalys analyst Mo Jia.

“Price cuts on earlier models after announcing the iPhone 8 have also helped. However, Apple is unlikely to sustain this growth in Q4,” Mo said, referring to the fourth quarter.

Customers can now order a basic model of a 64GB iPhone 8 for 4,788 yuan (US$722.61) from China’s retailer Suning Commerce Group Co Ltd, via its online shopping platform. A more costly iPhone 8 Plus 256GB model costs 6,888 yuan.

That’s a sharp reduction from the original prices in China of 5,888 yuan and 7,988 yuan, respectively.

The basic iPhone 8 sells through e-commerce vendor JD.com for 4,875 yuan, with the expensive model selling at at 7,098 yuan.

Apple last week countered concerns of muted demand for its iPhone X, saying pre-orders for the 10th anniversary phone were “off the charts.”

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