(Yicai) May 21 -- Apple has cut the prices of some iPhone models sold in China by more than 20 percent for the mid-year shopping festival that kicked off yesterday, a steeper discount than it offered earlier in the year.

Shoppers can take advantage of the lower iPhone prices offered on Tmall until May 28, Yicai learned from the online retail platform operated by Alibaba Group Holding. The iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max are on sale there for CNY6,099 and CNY7,949 (USD845 and USD1,100) each, 21 percent and 24 percent cheaper than their official listed price in China. 

The scale of Apple's latest price cuts is unprecedented, as the global smartphone giant has never offered such steep discounts in the Chinese market before. The price reductions follow a falloff in iPhone sales amid stiff competition from local brands such as Huawei, Oppo, and Vivo.

IPhone sales fell 8 percent to USD16.4 billion in China in the quarter ended March 31 from a year earlier, but still beat market expectations for USD15.6 billion, according to data from research firm Visible Alpha. The Chinese market accounted for a third of Apple’s global iPhone sales in the period.

Apple’s iPhone sales fell sharply worldwide in the quarter, though it had better-than-expected results in China. On the firm’s earnings conference call earlier this month, Chief Executive Tim Cook said he was still very optimistic about the Chinese market.

To boost sales in China, the California-based company has launched several promotional events since the lunar new year holiday in February, and it shows in market data.

Sales of foreign-brand smartphones in China jumped 12 percent to 3.75 million units in March from a year ago, according to figures from the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology. In the local market, Apple is the only important overseas phone brand at present. 

But despite Apple’s discounting campaigns, analysts believe its market heyday in China has passed. The first half of the year has always been Apple’s off-peak sales season, Zhu Jiatao, a senior analyst at research institute Canalys, told Yicai. It will face even greater challenges in the next three months, after sales in January to March were unsatisfactory though better than expected, he said.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Futura Costaglione