Apple and Alipay partner to launch a US$30/month China iPhone deal. Shoppers can borrow interest-free money for Apple purchases and pay it back in 24 monthly installments (via Wall Street Journal) (paywall).
[Chinese Companies are Boycotting Apple Products in Favor of Huawei]
China iPhone Deal
In China, the iPhone 8 starts at 5,099. yuan (US$758), while the iPhone XR starts at 6,499 yuan (US$967). iPhone sales are slumping in China, probably in part because of higher prices. Apple even blamed China for its reduced revenue estimate.
The financing offer comes from Ant Financial’s Huabei service. This offers lines of credit to tens of millions of people who use Alipay. Yesterday Huabei informed customers it could temporarily raise their credit limit so they can buy Apple devices.