During the 618 shopping festival with national subsidies, did Apple become the “biggest winner” by cutting prices?

The annual 618 shopping festival is a peak period for consumers to replace digital products. Coupled with the significant price cuts brought about by national subsidies, the mobile phone market has seen accelerated growth during this year's 618 period.

According to data monitored by the International Data Corporation (IDC), from May 1st to June 7th, the sales volume of smartphones in China reached 30.2 million units, representing an increase of over 8% compared to 27.9 million units in the same period last year. Among them, Apple increased its discount efforts. Especially after the 128GB version of the iPhone 16 Pro participated in the "national subsidy", it led the overall market growth; Xiaomi continued its strong performance, and OPPO also received positive feedback after increasing its promotions.

This trend is clearly reflected on e-commerce shopping platforms. As of 16:30 on June 17th, data from JD.com's 618 mobile phone sales ranking showed that Apple once again took the top spot in both sales volume and sales revenue among mobile phone brands. In terms of individual models, the iPhone 16 Pro, iPhone 16 Pro Max, and iPhone 16 also took the first, second, and third places respectively, and have remained in the top three for over 35 consecutive days. In addition, Apple's previous-generation product, the iPhone 14, also made it to the fifth place.

△Source: Screenshot from JD.com

In this regard, Apple seems to have become the "biggest winner" of the 618 shopping festival under the national subsidy.

Did Apple top the list by cutting prices?

Since the release of the iPhone 15 series, Apple has frequently been questioned about its lack of growth momentum, and its financial reports have also signaled a decline in revenue in the Greater China market.

According to Apple's financial report for the second fiscal quarter of 2025 (corresponding to the first quarter of the natural year 2025), the company's revenue in the Greater China market during this period was $16.002 billion, a year-on-year decrease of approximately 2%. This is already the seventh consecutive quarter of year-on-year decline in Apple's revenue in the Greater China market.

Against this backdrop, Apple was still able to top the mobile phone sales list during this year's 618 shopping festival, which is directly related to its larger discounts. On May 11th, on the eve of the 618 shopping festival, Apple issued a price adjustment notice to its channel partners, significantly reducing the prices of many flagship models, including the iPhone 16 Pro.

Taking the 128GB version of the iPhone 16 Pro as an example, the price of this model was directly reduced by 2,000 yuan to 5,999 yuan, precisely falling within the scope of the national subsidy. After adding the 500-yuan national subsidy, the final price was only 5,499 yuan. In addition, models with higher configurations also had price adjustments of over 1,000 yuan.

The significant price cuts of Apple's main products quickly triggered a wave of purchasing enthusiasm. On the JD.com official self-operated flagship store for Apple products, the 128GB version of the iPhone 16 Pro was once shown as out of stock.

Data from research firm Counterpoint Research also pointed out that Apple's sales volume in the Chinese market rose to the first place in May. Benefiting from this, Apple's global sales volume increased by 15% year-on-year between April and May, which is the strongest performance of the technology giant during these two months since the COVID-19 pandemic.

In the view of Zhang Shule, an analyst in the Internet industry, in order to participate in the national subsidy, Apple finally squeezed into the market after multiple rounds of price cuts at the end of last year and the beginning of this year. Ultimately, it exchanged price cuts for market share and captured an increase in the number of mid-range floating consumers.

"The price of Apple products after the price cuts is more affordable. While encouraging some Apple fans to upgrade their phones earlier, it has also successfully attracted some mid- to high-end consumers who were hesitant about making a purchase. Although Apple currently does not have many revolutionary features, it has still stabilized the Chinese market with its brand appeal and price difference," Zhang Shule told a reporter from Time Weekly.

The problem is that the sales volume achieved through price cuts may not be sustainable. Zhang Shule further pointed out that Apple currently does not have a fundamental advantage over Android systems, but its prices are still higher than those of similar models from its competitors. Once the national subsidy is cancelled, Apple, even with its current reduced prices, will return to the awkward situation of making consumers hesitate about which phone to choose. Unless there is a revolutionary experience similar to that of the iPhone 4 back then, it will be difficult to maintain the current sales performance.

Xiaomi follows closely behind

Besides Apple, Xiaomi once again took the top spot in both sales volume and sales revenue among domestic brands during the 618 shopping festival.

In terms of individual models, Xiaomi is also the only mobile phone manufacturer other than Apple to have four products make it into the top ten on JD.com's 618 sales ranking. Its Redmi K80, Turbo 4 Pro, 14C, and Note 14 Pro ranked fourth, sixth, seventh, and tenth respectively on the individual model list. In addition, two mid- to low-end models, the OnePlus Ace 5 and the iQOO Neo 10, also made it onto the top ten list of individual models.

Looking at the overall market landscape, the top five positions in both sales volume and sales revenue rankings of mobile phone brands during this year's 618 shopping festival were occupied by five manufacturers: Apple, Xiaomi, Huawei, vivo, and OPPO. Among them, Apple and Xiaomi firmly held the first and second places, while the rankings of the latter three fluctuated slightly on the two lists.

Meanwhile, the sales volume of Honor, which changed its leadership this year, has not shown a significant increase on online platforms. It ranked sixth on both lists, while it was among the top three last year. This may be related to the release time of its latest main product, the Honor 400. The Honor 400 was officially launched on June 6th, more than twenty days after the start of this year's 618 shopping festival. Whether Honor can make a comeback with its 400 series remains to be further observed.

Beyond the sales volume of different mobile phone brands, another focus of the market is the market performance after the big promotion.

Recently, the national subsidy policies in many places have been adjusted. Even if they are not completely terminated, in the long run, the national subsidy cannot last forever. After the subsidy ends, the market is likely to face a significant decline in demand.

For example, IDC analyzed that the 618 promotion that started one month earlier has already released a large amount of market demand. It is difficult for consumers to repurchase terminal devices due to promotions and subsidies. After the foreseeable demand for phone upgrades is met, the growth of the market's shipment volume may be weak in the later period.

How to deal with this situation has become a question that all mobile phone manufacturers must consider. Li Jie, the president of OnePlus in China, once told a reporter from Time Weekly that the national subsidy will not become the core competitiveness of any manufacturer. For future competition, manufacturers must focus on themselves, such as how to better serve their users, carry out product layout around users, and upgrade technologies. "This is something that will never change, and it is also what we will firmly invest a large amount of resources and main energy in doing next."

This article is from the WeChat official account "Time Weekly" (ID: timeweekly). The author is Xie Silin. It is published by 36Kr with authorization.