$1,000 price tag dampens iPhone 8 interest in China

Apple is poised to launch its expected iPhone 8, hoping the number’s auspicious connotations in China will help turn around fortunes in the world’s biggest smartphone market after six quarters of falling sales.

Chinese shoppers, however, are already counting the cost, with the latest model tipped to have a price tag upward of $1,000 (€834) — roughly double the average Chinese monthly salary.

The success of Apple’s next iPhone in China is crucial for the firm, which has seen its once-coveted phone slip into fifth position in China behind offerings from local rivals Huawei Technologies Co, Oppo, Vivo and Xiaomi. Greater China, which for Apple includes Taiwan and Hong Kong, accounted for roughly 18% of iPhone sales in the quarter ended in July, making it the company’s top market after the US and Europe. Yet those sales have been declining steadily and are down 10% from a year earlier, in contrast with growth in all other regions. And the iPhone’s share of China’s smartphone shipments fell to 9% in January-June, down from 14% in 2015, according to data from consultancy Counterpoint Research.