VietNamNet Bridge - Observers said iPhone XR appears to have the same problem as iPhone 5C which had a high price but few outstanding features.


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The first iPhone XRs appeared at some private shops in HCMC on October 26 carried from Singapore to Vietnam across border gates. 

With limited supply, the products were offered at VND23.9 million for one-sim 64 GB version.

The first iPhone XR arrived in Hanoi in the evening of the same day and it had the quoted price of VND25.5 million.

Observers said not many Vietnamese show interest in iPhone XR. The model is less known than its two ‘brothers’ iPhone XS and XS Max.

This explained why distributors continuously slashed the retail prices of iPhone XR in the next days. 

iPhone XR is not as hot as expected because its initial price is relatively high. Vietnamese tend to buy the most advanced and expensive version, like XS Max, to show their class.

In HCMC, the price decreased by VND2.4 million to VND21.5 million for one-sim 64 GB version. In Hanoi, some private shops offered iPhone XR at VND22.5 million. The 2-sim version was VND500,000 more expensive.

The price of products carried to Vietnam across border gates dropped further after authorized resellers began selling genuine products. At present, the retail price is stable at over VND20 million for one-sim 64 GB version.

“iPhone XR is not as hot as expected because its initial price is relatively high. Vietnamese tend to buy the most advanced and expensive version, like XS Max, to show their class,” commented Thu Huyen, the representative of a private distribution chain in Hanoi.

A large retail chain admitted that the number of clients ordering iPhone XR is relatively low, just accounting for 10 percent of total orders. 

“iPhone XR is likely to repeat the same problem of iPhone 5C five years ago,” said Hoang Giang, the owner of a shop in Cau Giay district in Hanoi.

In 2013, Apple ‘declared death’ for the iPhone 5 to pave the way for two models – iPhone 5C and iPhone 5S. 

At that moment, people hoped 5C would be a low-cost product. But in fact, the retail price was relatively high, while it had weaker configuration and had no fingerprint scanner. It could not catch the attention from iPhone fans in Vietnam at the launching.

The sales of iPhone 5 were higher than 5C. Only when sales agents slashed selling prices by half to dump stock did Vietnamese begin paying attention to iPhone 5C.

iPhone XR is now considered 2018’s iPhone 5C.

Analysts say that Apple is following the same strategy that it once used five years ago: declaring death for iPhone X to boost the same next-generation iPhones, including iPhone XR.


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Thanh Lich