Apple’s official online store applied a direct 1,000-yuan discount to the 17 Pro series. Combined with trade-in subsidies and platform promotions, some 17 Pro models fell to 6,999 yuan, their lowest price since launch late 2025.

The cuts went live last week on major Chinese e-commerce platforms JD.com and Tmall ahead of the annual 618 shopping festival, one of the country’s biggest online retail events, which runs from June 1-18.

The standard 17 also received its first notable markdown. Some configurations are now available for 4,499 yuan after discounts, pushing the device below the 6,000-yuan threshold for China’s national trade-in subsidy program, according to MacRumors.

The subsidy offers consumers a 15% discount on qualifying devices, capped at 500 yuan, but does not apply to Pro models.

The iPhone 17 Pro (L) and Pro Max. Photo by VnExpres/Tuan Hung

At the same time, Huawei has also lowered prices for its high-end foldable phones for the first time, intensifying competition in China’s premium smartphone market.

"Apple and Huawei are the two companies most closely benchmarked against each other in the high-end segment," technology analyst Liu Dingding told the Global Times. "Other brands still hold market share, but in terms of premium-market influence, the rivalry is increasingly centered on these two players."

Liu said both companies are using the 618 shopping festival to boost orders and shipments while competing for a larger share of replacement demand.

Last year, Apple offered limited-time trade-in discounts in China during the same sales festival, while JD.com and other local retailers listed 16 models with discounts of up to 2,530 yuan, according to 9to5Mac.

That helped Apple reverse an earlier sales decline in the country. In the first quarter of 2025, Apple was the only major smartphone vendor to report falling shipments in China, but by the second quarter, Canalys data showed iPhone shipments rising 4% year-on-year.

Apple CFO Kevan Parekh recently told the Financial Times that the 17 family had become the company’s best-selling iPhone series ever.

iPhone sales rose more than 20% to $57 billion in the first three months of 2026, driven partly by strong demand in China for the 17 series. Revenue from Greater China reached $20.5 billion, up 28% year-on-year, extending Apple’s recent rebound in the market.