Apple celebrates the New Year in Japan with free gift card promo and engraved AirTag trackers

Apple is currently running a gift card promotion in Japan while also offering a specially engraved AirTag that celebrates the upcoming Year of the Dragon. Celebrating the New Year is always a big deal in the country with businesses shutting down for a few days and some firms, like Apple, offering special promotions on their products. Like it did last year, Apple plans on rewarding purchasers of its devices in Japan with a free gift card. Last year, the value of the gift cards ranged between $30 and $240 depending on the item purchased.

This year, the length of the New Year promotion in Japan is being doubled to four days from two days previously. The exact dates that the promo will be running in Japan are January 2, 2024, to January 5, 2024. The typical gift card is valued at 11,000 Yen and will be handed out to buyers of the latest third-generation iPhone SE, iPhone 13, and iPhone 14 models. Keep in mind that 11,000 Yen sounds like a huge chunk of cash but converts into $77 US only.

The first 50,000 AirTag purchasers will get a special "Year of the Dragon" AirTag. If you want one, you're going to have to visit an Apple Store since buyers using the Apple Store app will not be able to receive a "Year of the Dragon" AirTag item tracker. Last year's AirTag deal delivered an engraved "Year of the Rabbit" item tracker for the first 30,000 units purchased.

Apple used to have a cool promotion in Japan during this time of the year called "The Lucky Bag." The company would stuff a few bags with products and slap a greatly discounted price tag on them. Consumers spent $300 for their bag and didn't know which one of the four available they would receive. The value of these bags ranged from $640 to $1,280 in the 2015 promotion.

That year each Lucky Bag had an Apple TV, a special New Year's edition of the mophie powerstation, a pair of Beats PowerBeats2, an iTunes gift card valued at $8, and an Incase ICON Slim Pack backpack. The most desired bag also featured an 11-inch Apple MacBook Air and other accessories, including a limited edition Power Support Air Jacket. Another bag, believed to be worth $1,070, replaced the MacBook Air with a 16GB Apple iPad Air 2. Another bag worth approximately $814 had a 16GB Apple iPad mini 3 inside while the most widely received bag carried a 16GB Apple iPod touch inside.