BENGALURU: Apple’s iPhone sales are set to dip by around a quarter in
India’s holiday season fourth quarter, putting them on course for the
first full-year fall in four years, industry research firm Counterpoint
said on Saturday.
The Cupertino, California company’s struggle to break through with
India’s 1.3 billion consumers swung more sharply into focus this week
after Apple blamed a disappointing set of sales forecasts on a handful
of big emerging markets.
Chief Executive Tim Cook said after publishing third quarter results
that sales were flat in India in the fourth quarter, which includes a
month-long festive season culminating this week in Diwali — a bumper
period for electronics sales.
Neil Shah, research director at HongKong-based Counterpoint Research,
said on Saturday its channel checks pointed to numbers for the quarter
in the range of 700,000 to 800,000 units, down from about a million a
year ago.
For the whole of 2018, Apple was set to sell about 2 million phones — a
drop of about a million from last year, he said, as Indians baulk at
high prices for the devices, driven by trade tariffs and a weak rupee.
“Sales are set to drop for the first time in four years,” Shah said. “If
you look at Q3 — it was 900k last year and this (year) is almost 450k.
“Iphones have gone costlier and the features and specs aren’t that
compelling. The install base of android has grown vastly; the new
customer base (for Apple) is not coming.”
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.
Shah said that, while more than half the phones sold this year were
older iPhone models, high selling prices meant Apple’s Indian revenue
should still be flat or slightly higher than a year ago.
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