New iPhones receive cold response in India: Report

By Anuj Sharma - October 3, 2018
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Given that India is the second largest smartphone market, Apple had reportedly imported about lakh units of the new iPhone to ensure high sales momentum after launch.

Apple’s latest batch of iPhones – the iPhone XS and XS Max – have received a rather cold response in the Indian market, with several large format stores saying that they are still left with almost half the stock supplied to them after the first weekend sales.

Given that India is the second largest smartphone market, Apple had reportedly imported about lakh units of the new iPhone to ensure high sales momentum after launch.

 

According to a report in ET, senior executives of four large multi-brand retail chains and three Apple Premium Resellers (APR) chains across the country have said that 40 – 45 per cent of the stock was still unsold as of Sunday night.

While the iPhone X, with a completely new design language, helped Apple to command a significantly higher Average Selling Price (ASP) at a time when the overall smartphone market was beginning to saturate, the Indian market contributed to just one per cent of the total iPhone X shipments, said a report by Counterpoint Research.

Coming to the iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max, the cumulative sales of these devices were approximately 55 – 60 per cent compared to last year’s iPhone X in the first three days of the launch.

More than half the demand has been for the iPhone XS Max 256 GB model in gold colour, which is priced at Rs 1,24,900, ET reported. Apple has also kept the price of iPhone XS and XS Max from Rs 99,900 to Rs 1,44,900 – a bit higher from the last year’s iPhone X that costs Rs 89,000 to Rs 1.02 lakh.

The company has failed to bring down the hefty price of its phones due to the rise in customs duty by the Indian government. Many smartphone users also said the lack of innovation and sky-high prices have affected their decision to buy the flagship Apple iPhone models.

Analysts predict that Apple is likely to revive its sale during the upcoming festive season, October – December.

 

 

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