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Chinese Retailers Offer Deep iPhone 15 Discounts 

The Apple iPhone 15 series is displayed for sale at The Grove Apple retail store on release day in Los Angeles, California, on September 22, 2023. (AFP)
The Apple iPhone 15 series is displayed for sale at The Grove Apple retail store on release day in Los Angeles, California, on September 22, 2023. (AFP)
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Chinese Retailers Offer Deep iPhone 15 Discounts 

The Apple iPhone 15 series is displayed for sale at The Grove Apple retail store on release day in Los Angeles, California, on September 22, 2023. (AFP)
The Apple iPhone 15 series is displayed for sale at The Grove Apple retail store on release day in Los Angeles, California, on September 22, 2023. (AFP)

Chinese e-commerce platforms including PDD Holdings' Pinduoduo and Alibaba's Taobao are offering deep discounts on Apple's latest iPhone 15 series, with some selling models up to 900 yuan ($123) below the retail price.

Analysts say the iPhone 15 has not been selling as well in China as its predecessor. Counterpoint Research said last week that iPhone 15 sales in China were down 4.5% versus the iPhone 14 in the first 17 days after its market launch.

Apple, Pinduoduo and Alibaba did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

In China, Apple will occasionally allow partner vendors to offer discounts to spur demand. But Chinese e-commerce platforms have also been locked in a "value for money" battle as consumers tighten their belts amid a slowing economy, with discounting a key focus of forthcoming annual Singles Day shopping festival.

Pinduoduo is offering the 128 GB version of the iPhone 15 Plus at 6,098 yuan, 900 yuan less than Apple's retail price of 6,999 yuan, according to checks made by Reuters.

The 512 GB iPhone 15 Pro Max, which has a 11,999 yuan price tag in Apple's store, can be bought for 10,698 yuan on Alibaba's e-commerce platform Taobao.

The e-commerce platform iPhone 15 discounts were first reported by The Economic Observer weekly newspaper on Monday.

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Apple Says Some AI Improvements to Siri Delayed to 2026

FILE PHOTO: Customers walk past an Apple logo inside of an Apple store at Grand Central Station in New York, U.S., August 1, 2018. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Customers walk past an Apple logo inside of an Apple store at Grand Central Station in New York, U.S., August 1, 2018. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson/File Photo
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Apple Says Some AI Improvements to Siri Delayed to 2026

FILE PHOTO: Customers walk past an Apple logo inside of an Apple store at Grand Central Station in New York, U.S., August 1, 2018. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Customers walk past an Apple logo inside of an Apple store at Grand Central Station in New York, U.S., August 1, 2018. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson/File Photo

Some artificial intelligence improvements to Apple's voice assistant Siri will be delayed until 2026, the company said on Friday.
In a statement, Apple said it has "been working on a more personalized Siri, giving it more awareness of your personal context, as well as the ability to take action for you within and across your apps. It's going to take us longer than we thought to deliver on these features and we anticipate rolling them out in the coming year."
According to Reuters, Apple did not give a reason for the delays. The iPhone maker had previously indicated the features would come in 2025.
Last year, Apple announced a range of AI-driven features called Apple Intelligence that included new capabilities such as rewriting emails and summarizing a cluttered inbox.
Some of the biggest improvements were aimed at giving its Siri assistant the ability to duck in and out of apps and complete tasks for a user by tapping into information stored on Apple devices.
Apple gave examples such as asking Siri to pull up a podcast recommended by a friend or pulling up flight tracking information from a relative, all based on data held on the device.
The company has been building a vast new cloud computing infrastructure that runs on its own chips in an effort to maintain its privacy stance while delivering AI features. Apple has said Siri fields 1.5 billion user requests per day.
Apple's rivals have also been rushing to add AI features to their voice assistants, with Alphabet's Google adding its Gemini model to its assistant last year.
Amazon last month rolled out an AI-driven overhaul of its Alexa assistant, saying that the new capabilities would be free for subscribers to its Prime program but cost $19.99 a month otherwise.