Apple is teaming up with Chinese payments company Ant Financial Services Group, along with several local banks, to offer local customers interest-free financing on iPhones in China (via Reuters). Apple is continuously looking to boost smartphone sales in China, and this appears to be the latest move in the company's long-term plan to do so.

iphone xs vs xr
On its China website, Apple explains that customers can pay 271 yuan ($40.31) per month for the iPhone XR, and 362 yuan ($53.87) per month for the ‌iPhone‌ XS. If customers trade in older models of ‌iPhone‌, they'll get cheaper installment plans.

In total, customers buying an ‌iPhone‌ worth a minimum of 4,000 yuan (around $595) will qualify for interest-free financing that can be paid over three, six, nine, 12, or 24 months.

Apple has always struggled with ‌iPhone‌ sales in China, and according to Strategy Analytics, the company shipped an estimated 2.5 million fewer iPhones in China in 2018 than in 2017. The company's products have historically been categorized as too expensive for the China market, losing out to low-cost alternatives from popular local rivals like OPPO, Vivo, and Xiaomi.

In recent weeks, reports have suggested that Apple is seeing improved iPhone sales in China thanks to recent price cuts to the ‌iPhone‌ XR, XS, XS Max, and older models. According to Feng, data sourced from Alibaba suggests that ‌iPhone‌ sales on the site have increased by 76 percent in China since January 13, 2019.

The launch of China's limited-time promotion follows similar offers that have rolled out to a few regions around the world, including a trade-up promo in the United States. In emails sent to customers and on its website, Apple encourages shoppers to upgrade to an ‌iPhone‌ XR from $449 or ‌iPhone‌ XS from $699, with the trade in of an ‌iPhone‌ 7 Plus or ‌iPhone‌ 8.

Tag: China

Top Rated Comments

tzm41 Avatar
91 months ago
I've never seen no many promos with new iPhones... Signs of the times...
Maybe they should just consider... not pricing them so prohibitively expensive?
Score: 22 Votes (Like | Disagree)
ChrisMoBro Avatar
91 months ago
They’re still too expensive.
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
1050792 Avatar
91 months ago
I've never seen no many promos with new iPhones... Signs of the times...
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
jgdeschamps Avatar
91 months ago
It's not just a pricing problem Apple has in China. Few people on this forum want to acknowledge how good the Chinese offerings have gotten and how well they integrate with the services and social media China has.

There was a person on this forum last year who is living in China and they said Apple services and the cloud don't work well there. I can't verify that but we have read numerous times on this very site how Apple's policies have clashed with how Chinese consumers actually use services.

And on top of that, the latest Huawei flagships have specs and features that are a genuine threat to Apple and Samsung offerings even outside of China. What they're doing with cameras is amazing. I am no fan of Huawei, (quite the opposite) so it's with trepidation that I keep an eye on how far they've come on their own (on the backs of filched IP). My husband has tested a P30 Pro and it's last year's model with performance that even this year's phones will be hard pressed to beat. In terms of all around performance it is rock solid and the battery life is insane. Apple and Samsung really need to match or exceed what Huawei is doing. The race is on.

Apple's processors are the best, but iOS isn't dazzling the people it needs to win over. Android just doesn't suck enough to lose its Asian audience. And they don't have any privacy anyway over in China, so it's not like Apple can use privacy as a selling point there.

They just don't have anything the Chinese want at any price Apple is likely willing to accept. And the Chinese manufacturers offer any phone color anybody could possibly want, even in crazy gradient effects. So I think the recent traitorous attempt to rebrand Product Red to "China Red" isn't going to help anything and in fact gives bad optics here.

There's actually much Apple could still do to expand its market share in Europe, other Asian regions, and even here in the USA. Perhaps they need to start thinking about doing just that while they figure out a new China strategy that offers Chinese consumers something truly substantive over the competition.
You are completely correct.
I frowned upon Huawei, but when my carrier offered me the Mate 20 Lite -which doesn't include all of their flagship phones tech- and showed all the features that basically cover what the iPhone XR offers, followed by the phrase "For 6,000 pesos" (about 300 dollars) I immediately accepted the phone. Beautiful "optical" finish that looks way better in person than on photos, amazing AI dual lens 20+2MP photos on both front and back cameras, EMUI 8.2 (Huawei's custom Android flavor,) USB-C connector, dual sim, expandable to 256GB via flash card... and to top it all, battery can last up to 3 and a half days if you enable extreme energy saver mode when you go to bed... and the list goes on regarding software features.
It screamed backup phone at me in the beginning. Now it replaced my iPhone SE completely, even though I don't like big screens nor Android. Those phones are so good at very attractive prices that I fell for one, and like you said, that's what Apple is facing in China.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
macloverHK Avatar
91 months ago
Good. They don't have to sell their kidneys then.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
nameischarles Avatar
91 months ago
I've never seen no many promos with new iPhones... Signs of the times...
That’s so true, this is what happens when I go to the Apple site here in Australia. Instead of nice flashy Apple products being displayed, you get this....



Attachment Image
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

Apple Logo Black

Apple Just Made Its Second-Biggest Acquisition Ever After Beats

Thursday January 29, 2026 10:07 am PST by
Apple today confirmed to Reuters that it has acquired Q.ai, an Israeli startup that is working on artificial intelligence technology for audio. Apple paid close to $2 billion for Q.ai, according to sources cited by the Financial Times. That would make this Apple's second-biggest acquisition ever, after it paid $3 billion for the popular headphone and audio brand Beats in 2014. Q.ai has...
Aston Martin CarPlay Ultra Screen

Apple's CarPlay Ultra to Expand to These Vehicle Brands Later This Year

Sunday February 1, 2026 10:08 am PST by
Last year, Apple launched CarPlay Ultra, the long-awaited next-generation version of its CarPlay software system for vehicles. Nearly nine months later, CarPlay Ultra is still limited to Aston Martin's latest luxury vehicles, but that should change fairly soon. In May 2025, Apple said many other vehicle brands planned to offer CarPlay Ultra, including Hyundai, Kia, and Genesis. In his Powe...
imac video apple feature

Apple Unveils First New Products of 2026

Monday January 26, 2026 1:55 pm PST by
Apple today introduced its first two physical products of 2026: a second-generation AirTag and the Black Unity Connection Braided Solo Loop for the Apple Watch. Read our coverage of each announcement to learn more:Apple Unveils New AirTag With Longer Range, Louder Speaker, and More Apple Introduces New Black Unity Apple Watch BandBoth the new AirTag and the Black Unity Connection Braided...
14 inch MacBook Pro Keyboard

Apple Changes How You Order a Mac

Saturday January 31, 2026 10:51 am PST by
Apple recently updated its online store with a new ordering process for Macs, including the MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, iMac, Mac mini, Mac Studio, and Mac Pro. There used to be a handful of standard configurations available for each Mac, but now you must configure a Mac entirely from scratch on a feature-by-feature basis. In other words, ordering a new Mac now works much like ordering an...
Apple Logo Black

Apple's Next Launch is 'Imminent'

Sunday February 1, 2026 12:31 pm PST by
The calendar has turned to February, and a new report indicates that Apple's next product launch is "imminent," in the form of new MacBook Pro models. "All signs point to an imminent launch of next-generation MacBook Pros that retain the current form factor but deliver faster chips," Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said on Sunday. "I'm told the new models — code-named J714 and J716 — are slated...