Apple’s iPhone sales will see a drop in India for the first time in four years, according to Counterpoint Research. Research Director at Counterpoint Research, Neil Shah, said that for the quarter, Apple has sold between 700,000 to 800,000 units, which is down from about a million a year ago. For the whole of 2018, Apple was expected to sell about 2 million phones. This is a drop of about a million phones from last year.
Shah told Reuters, "Sales are set to drop for the first time in four years. If you look at Q3 – it was 900k last year and this (year) is almost 450k”. The fall is sale is of course attributed to the falling rupee value and the rising price of the iPhone. Even though more than half the phones sold this year were older iPhone models, it is the high cost of the new iPhones which has led to a flat revenue in India for Apple.
According to Reuters, “Cook on Thursday called the company's problems in India "speed bumps along a very long journey" and most analysts say that the prestige of Apple's brand should allow it to claim back lost ground as Indians' spending power continues to grow.”
India is a price-sensitive market and even though there are those who will spend a lot on an iPhone, most consumers will look for a value for money proposition with smartphones. With a number of Android devices available at various price points, offering good value for money, Apple is facing still competition.
It is not only the iPhones that have become costlier. Apple recently refreshed its most affordable laptop in India and made it unaffordable. The older generation MacBook Air had an MRP between Rs 70,000 and Rs 80,000 but was available for a street price of around 50k. The new MacBook Air’s start at 1,14,900. This makes the device quite unaffordable for those looking for an entry level Mac. Since most of Apple’s laptops hover in the 1 lakh+ price segment choosing the right machine can be a challenge. You can read about the new MacBook Air here.
Speaking of the iPhones, Apple launched three new iPhones in 2018 – the iPhone XS Max, iPhone XS and the iPhone XR. You can read our in-depth review of the iPhone XS here, iPhone XS Max here and iPhone XR here.