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Apple is temporarily trimming the price of its Apple Watch by $50 when someone buys it with a new Apple iPhone, an uncommon discount from the tech giant.
But don’t race to the online store to place your order: The limited-time promotion is available only through in-store purchases and only at certain retail outlets in the Boston and San Francisco Bay areas, according to an Apple Store employee in the Bay Area. The super-pricey Apple Watch Edition and Apple Watch Hermès models are not included in the promotion, which runs October 30 through November 15, according to MacRumors, which first reported the discount.
Regular pricing for the Apple Watch starts at $349 for the Sport version.
Representatives of the Cupertino, California-based company did not respond to a request for comment.
The discount comes amid continuing questions about how well the Apple Watch is selling. Apple has said it wouldn’t disclose Watch unit sales because it doesn’t want to offer competitors “insights” from the figures. Analysts polled by Fortune recently estimated Apple sold 3.95 million Apple Watches in the third calendar quarter.
The Apple Watch has been the highest-profile product in the wearables category, which also includes watches from the likes of Samsung Electronics and Motorola as well as activity trackers from companies such as Fitbit. For all the attention gadget makers have lavished on these products, they have yet to really catch fire with consumers. In the second quarter, Fitbit topped the category with shipments of 4.4 million units.
Still, Apple CEO Tim Cook has remained bullish. He said in July that initial sales of the wearable to consumers exceeded the unit sales of the first iPhone and iPad in their comparable launch periods.
Cook added that he plans to expand the opportunities to buy the Watch for the holiday season, banking on the expectation that Apple’s smartwatch will be a top gift for the period.
The discount is unusual in that Apple doesn’t tend to offer sales promotions on new devices. The tech giant offers special pricing for educational institutions and cuts prices on merchandise during the annual Black Friday sales, but temporary promotions of this nature are almost unheard of.
The offer is available only at participating Apple Store locations in the Bay Area (Burlingame, Chestnut Street, Corte Madera, Hillsdale, San Francisco and Stonestown) and the Boston metro area (Boylston Street, Burlington, CambridgeSide Galleria and Chestnut Hill). Purchase of AppleCare+ or other accessories and add-ons are not required to get the discount, MacRumors reported.
