Flop: The new iPhones are struggling to sell, resort to promo deals and trade-ins to boost sales
Apple is trying to boost iPhone sales with discount promotions on trade-in deals and other strategies it rarely uses pic.twitter.com/YzONbojM8d
- TicToc by Bloomberg (@tictoc) December 4, 2018
Apple’s latest iPhones (the XS, XS Max and XR) are struggling this year in sales forcing Apple to use new marketing strategies it rarely uses: advertising the iPhone XR for $449*. That’s $300 less than its official sale price. There is an * asterisk however, noting that for customers to receive the promotional discount you must trade in an iPhone 7 Plus first.
The company is even telling their marketing team to stop current projects to instead focus on coming up with ways to help sell the iPhone XR and XS, adding speculation that iPhones simply aren’t selling like the company had expected.
“Apple is faced with the conundrum of needing to look into the mirror and decide if they should come out with an even lower priced iPhone," says the source.
Perhaps discontinuing the more affordable iPhone SE and pricing most of the new iPhones near and over $1,000 with no 2-Year contracts from carriers to subsidize the price may just have something to do with it. Or people are just waking up from their tired marketing. Or both. Just a thought.
When has Apple ever before advertised an iPhone at $300 less than it actually costs by using an asterisk? pic.twitter.com/DTNLrOCxly
- Mark Gurman (@markgurman) December 3, 2018
Company executives moved some marketing staff from other projects to work on bolstering sales of the latest handsets in October. This person described it as a "fire drill," and a possible admission that the devices may have been selling below expectations. https://t.co/eLXzBR2G4f pic.twitter.com/fFg67BT5n2
- Jesse Felder (@jessefelder) December 4, 2018
ONTD, what is your current brand and phone model?
Sources: 1 | 2 | 3