An Apple Store at Chengdu's fashion landmark Taikoo Li (Photo/Zhang Jian)

Dec. 26 (NBD) -- Apple has launched an iPhone XR and iPhone XS trade-in program in China. This is the company's biggest promotion since its entry into the country in terms of the credit offered. 

According to the tech giant's price list, the iPhone XR and iPhone XS carry a starting price tag of 6,499 yuan (944.0 U.S. dollars) and 8,699 yuan (1,263.6 U.S. dollars), respectively. But with trade-in, the iPhone XR starts at 4,399 yuan (639.0 U.S. dollars) and the iPhone XS at 6,599 yuan (958.5 U.S. dollars). 

This means the tech giant offers a credit up to a 2,100 yuan (305.0 U.S. dollars) if consumers trade in an old iPhones for a new one. 

This is believed to have something to do with massive drop in its market value.

With its stock closing down 2.6 percent on Monday (U.S. time), the tech juggernaut saw its market cap fall below 700 billion U.S. dollars for the first time ever after becoming the world's first tech firm with its market cap crossing the 1-trillion-U.S. dollar mark. 

In the past three months, the company's stock cumulatively tumbled 33.5 percent. 

Goldman Sachs analyst Rod Hall said in the newest report that Apple may have missed the mark with its less-expensive premium phone iPhone XR, and unexpected weakness in China and other emerging markets has also changed the outlook for Apple, reported Financial Times. 

Photo/VCG

Data from China's leading market research company SINO-MR showed Apple sold 10.54 million smartphones in China in the third quarter of this year, down 16 percent from the same period of last year. With a market share of 9.8 percent, the iPhone maker ranked the sixth in the Chinese smartphone market. 

Morgan Stanley, UBS AG and other institutions previously estimated that Apple may have lost more than a third of its market share in China and up to half its share in major metropolitan areas. 

Statistics revealed that Apple sold 71 million smartphones in the country in 2015, and the shipments slipped to 59 million units in 2016 and further to 49 million in 2017. UBS AG and Gartner projected the company's full-year sales for 2018 would be around 47 million units.

The sales decline is a result of a combination of different factors, including the whopping prices of the premium iPhone X and fast growth of China's indigenous smartphone manufacturers like Huawei and OPPO. 

SINO-MR's report indicates vivo ranked top in China's smartphone market in the July-September period with shipments of 20.62 million units and a 19.2 percent market share, followed by OPPO with sales of 20.58 million units and a 19.1 percent market share. Huawei, Honor, and MI rounded out the top five. 

Canalys Research Analyst Jia Mo told news outlet Yicai that Apple's ongoing trade-in program is attractive, but it remains unknown whether it will strongly boost the company's sales. 

The trade-in promotion will last through January 31, 2019. 

In addition to pushing up iPhone sales, Apple is promoting Apple Pay in Chinese metropolitans. 

Between December 10, 2018 and January 8, 2019, iPhone users in China will get a refund of 30 yuan (4.4 U.S. dollars) if they add a Shanghai Transit card to Wallet on iPhone or Watch and top up no less than 30 yuan using Apple Pay for the first time. The offer is limited to the first 168,000 users. 

In fact, Apple Pay entered the Chinese market in 2016, but over the development of three years, it still cannot match iPhone's popularity in China. 

Gartner's senior research director Sandy Shen said to Yicai that though Apple poured a lot of money to popularize Apple Pay, it faces enormous difficulties in making it a widely adopted payment tool due to the strong presence of Alipay and WeChat. 

Data from Analysys showed Alipay and WeChat are overwhelmingly dominant in China's third-party payment market, occupying a combined market share of over 75 percent in the second quarter of this year.

Email: lansuying@nbd.com.cn