As it has done since at least 2021, Apple is discounting the iPhone in China as part of the country’s 618 shopping festival. Here are the details.
Some models poised to reach the lowest prices since launch
For the past few years, Apple has joined other major consumer electronics brands in taking part in one of China’s biggest annual shopping events: the 618 shopping festival.
This is a major mid-year online retail event that began as a JD.com anniversary sale and has since expanded across the country’s largest e-commerce platforms.
Last year, Apple offered limited-time trade-in discounts in China during the sales festival, while JD.com and other local online retailers listed iPhone 16 models with discounts of up to 2,530 yuan (roughly $351 at the time).
That reportedly helped Apple reverse its earlier sales decline in the country. In Q1 2025, Apple had been the only major smartphone vendor to post a shipment decline in China, but by Q2, Canalys data showed iPhone shipments growing 4% year over year.
This year, as reported by Global Times (via MacMagazine), Apple is getting an early start on the 618 shopping festival, with the iPhone 17 Pro series seeing a 1,000 yuan (roughly $146) price cut starting today.
The report notes that JD.com is offering even steeper discounts:
JD.com, one of China’s largest online retailers, showed on its Apple product self-operated flagship store that, after direct discounts and trade-in subsidies, some iPhone 17 Pro models could be purchased for as low as 6,999 yuan, the lowest level since the series was launched.
The standard iPhone 17, Apple’s latest base-model flagship phone, also received its first notable price cut since release, with some versions priced at 4,499 yuan after multiple subsidies and trade-in offers.
The report also cites an employee at an Apple outlet in Beijing who said that “the latest discounts could be combined with trade-in subsidies and platform promotions, with some models reaching their lowest prices since launch.”
To read the Global Times’ full report, follow this link.
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