Apple has cut prices for several of its most important products on its official Chinese online store by as much as nearly 6 percent. The price cuts affect products including iPhones, iPads, Macs and AirPods, according to Apple's online store in China.
The price cuts come months after the company blamed a $5 billion to $9 billion revenue shortfall in the fourth quarter of 2018 on "lower than anticipated" iPhone sales and demand in China, Taiwan and Hong Kong.
"If you look at our results, our shortfall is over 100 percent from iPhone and it's primarily in greater China," Apple CEO Tim Cook told CNBC in January when the company lowered its revenue guidance ahead of earnings.
Earlier this year, prices on Apple products were lowered on official third-party sellers in China including Tmall and JD.com. Monday's price cut may be in response to recent value-added tax cut in China that took affect on April 1. The value-added tax for manufacturers, like Apple, was cut to 13 percent from 16 percent, according to Caixin.
The price cuts can be seen on Apple's website. For example, the entry-level iPhone XR now costs 6199RMB, 4.6 percent lower than on March 29, when Apple listed 6499RMB as its price. Apple's high-end iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max models each got a 500RMB price cut.
According to Apple's customer service, anybody who has bought an affected product from Apple in China within the past 14 days can receive a refund for the difference in price.
Greater China, which includes Hong Kong and Taiwan, accounted for about 15 percent of Apple's revenue in the fourth calendar quarter of 2018, the most recent quarter for which statistics are available. However, Apple's China revenue of $13.17 billion was down nearly $5 billion from a year ago.
Apple didn't return a request for comment.
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