Trade-in program for iPhone to start in March

A staff member displays new iPhone 6 smartphones at an Apple premium reseller's shop in Taipei, Southeast China's Taiwan, early Sept 26, 2014. [Photo/Xinhua]

Apple Inc plans to introduce a trade-in program for iPhones in China, said bloomberg.com, citing people familiar with the effort.

According to the report, similar to the program that Apple launched with Brightstar Corp in the US in 2013, Chinese consumers will be able to take older iPhones to Apple stores for credit against the company's products as soon as March 31. The company is partnering with Foxconn Technology Group for this program.

As of Thursday, representatives of Apple China didn't respond to a request for comment.

"Under the China program, retail staff at Apple outlets will assess an iPhone's condition before offering store credit for those originally bought in the Chinese mainland, the person said. Foxconn will buy the phone directly without Apple ever taking ownership and then sell them through its e-commerce sites eFeihu and FLNet, and through Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.'s Taobao online store," said the report.

Apple posted its largest third-quarter sales volume figure in 2014, according to data from the International Data Corp (IDC). The company boosted its global smartphone shipments to more than 39 million units, second worldwide behind Samsung Electronics Co (78 million units).

At the end of the third quarter of last year, the iPhone held 18.1 percent of market share in China, according to international market research firm Kantar Worldpanel.

In October last year, Apple's new iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus arrived in China despite a regulatory delay in the rollout. Heavy interest from Chinese consumers helped Apple sell nearly 10 million units within three days of the initial sell date on JD.com.

During an October trip to China, Apple CEO Tim Cook said in an interview with local media that "it's just a matter of time" before China "becomes Apple's biggest revenue contributor". Cook also noted that Apple has plans to increase the number of retail stores in China from 15 to 40 during the next few years.

Eddy Cue, Apple's senior vice-president of Internet Software and Services, said in a November press release that China is already one of the company's largest markets.