Apple reportedly advised technicians to “push iPhone upgrades to consumers with out-of-warranty devices.”
Apple has reportedly advised technicians to “push iPhone upgrades to consumers with out-of-warranty devices” in an effort to boost declining iPhone sales, claims Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman.
Gurman’s insight suggests when customers brought an iPhone old enough to be out-of-warranty in store, staff were encouraged by “senior sales staff” to push iPhone upgrades in addition to discussing repair options.
The report doesn’t detail whether the technicians prompted to push upgrades were Apple Store employees or those part of the Apple Authorized Service Providers network, some of which also resell Apple products part of the Apple Authorized Reseller program.
According to Gurman, Apple had tasked senior sales staff with the responsibility of ensuring retail staff were offering customers iPhone trade-in options, especially promoting the “generous trade-in deals for the iPhone XR.”
In December, as Apple executives worried about demand, the company asked retail employees to promote the new iPhones using methods not seen before. Technicians were told to push iPhone upgrades to consumers with out-of-warranty devices. Senior sales staff had to make sure other retail workers were suggesting upgrades, and easels offering generous trade-in deals for the iPhone XR were erected in stores. Apple’s online homepage was also replaced with reduced iPhone pricing that required a trade-in of older models.
Bloomberg claimed in December that Apple had asked groups of marketing staff to put projects on hold and to turn their attention onto boosting iPhone sales.