Last year Apple launched a trade-in program for the iPhone XR and the iPhone XS. The idea was to help drum up sales, but Apple had stated back then that this deal would be a limited time deal meaning that customers shouldn’t expect to see it available all year round. However as it turns out, Apple is now extending the deal.
Initially spotted by 9to5Mac, it seems that Apple China’s website is now mentioning in the small print that the trade-in deal has been extended to the 25th of March. Previously it was set to end on the 17th of February, so it looks like customers now have an extra month to take advantage of Apple’s offer.
Whether or not this extension will be applied to other countries that the deal is live in remains to be seen, but it is understandable that Apple could be targeting China. Apple’s CEO had previously acknowledged that the company was struggling a bit in China, so it makes sense that Apple would want to address that market first.
So far it is unclear what could be causing the weak demand for the iPhones. There is a good chance that pricing is the main factor, where the iPhones are priced over $1,000 making them quite a huge investment, even amongst loyalists. We’re not sure if Apple plans to address this by lowering the price of future iPhones, but we’ll have to wait and see.
