With India surpassing the US as the world's second-largest smartphone market, Samsung Electronics and all of China's top-tier handset makers are vying for the market. In the Indian market competition, Apple encountered a Waterloo. According to the latest news in the foreign media, Apple's mobile phone has been found to be increasingly expensive as it launches this year's new device, and there are signs that the company has completely abandoned the Indian market, which badly needs lower-end and lower-end handsets.
This follows quarterly reports from market-research firms that Apple phones have become increasingly weak in India, with market share falling from 2 % to 1 % and becoming a completely marginalized and vulnerable company. Apple's market share is only a fraction of that of many Chinese brands, such as Xiaomi.
Indian media have pointed out in the past that Apple's strategy of selling high-priced phones in China on the basis of brand charisma is unlikely to work in India, and that Apple needs to bring in cheaper, more cost-effective phones that take into account the realities of Indian consumers.
According to The Motley Fun, the US-based financial investment website, Apple's new phones have been found to be more expensive this year than they were in the past. Even the entry-level iPhone XR(not yet available) is priced at $750, which is higher than the entry-level phones of the past few years.
Why does Apple keep raising the price of mobile phones? The main reason is that Apple's sales growth has stagnated(the past few quarters have been flat) and Apple hopes to increase the average sales price of mobile phones to increase the company's revenue and profits.
Over the past nine months of the current fiscal year, Apple's mobile phone sales have remained roughly the same as last year, but revenue has risen 15 % as a result of price increases.
Apple has not been able to take a place in the huge Indian smartphone market, and continuing to raise prices will continue to cost Apple dearly.
High prices
In fact, Apple's $1,000 iPhone X last year was already an extremely expensive electronic product in India, where the actual retail price of the phone, including taxes and fees, was $1,400, which is much higher than in the United States. According to statistics, India ranks second in the world in the actual global retail price of the iPhone X. However, the ability of Indian nationals to consume is limited.
Not surprisingly, Apple's share of India's smartphone market is shrinking. In addition to the overall share, which continues to shrink to 1 per cent, Apple's second-quarter share fell sharply from 29.6 per cent in the same period last year, according to market research firm Counterpoint
13.6 %.
In the first half of this year, the number of smartphones Apple sells in India plummeted by 40 %. In the high-end mobile phone sector, Samsung Electronics and China's plus one company have a dominant position.
In the case of products, Samsung's flagship Galaxy Note 9 phone(128GB flash drive), sold in India, has a retail price of about $940 in dollars, which is lower than Samsung's $999 retail price in the US.
Samsung electronics has been working in India for a long time and has a huge electronics manufacturing base. By producing in India, Samsung is able to keep the retail prices of its flagship phones in line with those of other countries.
The company has woken up to the importance it attaches to India's mobile phone market as China's Xiaomi company takes over the market after it started building the world's largest smartphone factory in India, with Prime Minister Modi in attendance.
By manufacturing locally in India, Samsung is able to buy local components and avoid many of the taxes and taxes facing imported phones.
In the face of the fierce offensive by Chinese manufacturers, Samsung has also begun to learn from the introduction of more cost-effective low-and medium-price mobile phones. As a result, Apple's competitiveness against Samsung has become weaker and weaker.
A questionable strategy
Indian consumers will have to pay more if they want to integrate into the iOS Internet ecosystem in the face of Apple's almost sky-high price of new phones.
The entry-level iPhone XR retail price in India is 76,900 Indian rupees, equivalent to 1065 US dollars, 42 % more than the retail price of Gaochu in the US market. In addition to the Indian government's taxes and fees, the weak exchange rate of the Indian rupee has led to higher prices for imported products.
The iPhone XS already on sale will retail in the US for $1000 and retail prices in India will be 40 % higher.
In fact, Apple in India has commissioned the company to make local handsets, but mainly antique models, such as the iPhone 6s, which was launched three years ago and sold locally for about $414(32GB version).
Before the fall launch, Apple's cheapest phone was the four-inch iPhone SE, upgraded from the older iPhone 5S. But several agencies have said Apple will shut down its four-inch phone altogether from the fall.
The media also noticed that information about the iPhone SE has also disappeared on Apple's official website in India.
Foreign media pointed out that the suspension of the iPhone SE is another Apple mistake. Previously, the iPhone SE retail price in India was $275, which is the cheapest product for Indian consumers to experience iOS systems.
Apple continues to make antique models of mobile phones in India, and at similar prices, Chinese companies such as Canada provide better configuration and storage space. The iPhone 6S does not help Apple to establish a foothold in India.
In fact, Apple should upgrade the iPhone SE to help it gain more fans in India and sell more expensive flagship phones to those fans in the future, according to foreign media.
In developing countries such as India, the smartphone market is growing fast, but Apple's new strategy is not sales and market share, but prices, which will deprive Apple of opportunities to develop iOS ecology.
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