Apple’s doing everything it can to push its brand in China, which Tim Cook is convinced will soon take over from the U.S. as the company’s primary market.
Having recently taken the top spot for smartphone sales in the country for the first time ever, and also beaten out the likes of Gucci and Chanel to be named China’s favorite luxury brand, Apple is now teaming with manufacturer Foxconn to introduce a trade-in program for iPhones — letting customers exchange their older iPhone handsets for credit against other Apple products.
The program is set to go into action next week, on March 31.
Combined with Apple’s pledge to open new stores in China at a speed rarely (if ever) seen before, the move is a great way of not only upselling customers on new iPhones, but also of helping push other Apple products such as the iPad, Mac and, from late April, the Apple Watch.
Under the deal, Foxconn will buy the second-hand iPhones directly, repair them if necessary, and then sell them online using e-commerce websites such as FLNet and Alibaba’s Taobao online store. There is a possibility that the trade-in program will also go online at some point in the future.
Apple has been overhauling its trade-in programs as of late. Recently it was announced that Apple will expand its iPhone Reuse and Recycling Program in the U.S. to include non-iOS devices, such as Blackberry handsets and Windows Phones.
Via: Reuters
