APPLE Inc. has teamed up with Chinese payments giant Ant Financial Services Group and several local banks to offer interest-free financing, its first such move in the country as it looks to boost waning smartphone sales.

The U.S. tech behemoth issued a rare revenue warning last month citing weaker iPhone sales in China, one of its most important markets, where consumer spending has taken a hit due to a slowdown in economic growth.

On its China website, Apple is promoting the new program, under which customers can pay 271 yuan (US$40.31) each month to purchase an iPhone XR, and 362 yuan each month for an iPhone XS. Customers trading in old models can get cheaper instalments.

Users buying products worth a minimum of 4,000 yuan worth from Apple would qualify for interest-free financing that can be paid over three, six, nine, 12 or 24 months, the website shows.

The 64GB versions of iPhone’s XR and XS models sell at official sticker prices of 6,499 yuan and 8,699 yuan, respectively.

Apple is offering the plan through Huabei, a consumer credit service run by Ant Financial, the payment affiliate of e-commerce giant Alibaba, Apple’s China website shows.

China Construction Bank, China Merchants Bank, Agricultural Bank of China and Industrial and Commercial bank of China. also offer financing programs for Apple products, with minimum purchases of 300 yuan, Apple’s China website shows.

Data from research firm IDC shows iPhone shipments to China fell 19.9 percent during the fourth quarter of 2018 versus a year earlier. Total smartphone shipments to the country were down 9.7 percent over the same period, although domestic brands such as Huawei, Oppo, and Vivo still grew in market share.(SD-Agencies)