Prabhu RamThe high cost of iPhones and the intense competition from Chinese smartphone makers is attributed as the reasons for Apple’s worst performance since 2014 in India – one of the fastest-growing smartphone market in the world, analysts have said. According to a report in the Economic Times, iPhone shipments in the country last year are estimated to have shrunk by as much as half from a record level in 2017.
Citing CyberMedia Research, the report said that Apple’s India shipments were pegged at nearly 2 million, lower than 3.2 million in 2017. According to analysts, highly priced iPhones were unable to compete with rivals, including OnePlus, which offer better features at half or even a third of the cost of iPhones.
“For Apple, 2018 has been a disastrous year in India… while Apple is still the favoured aspirational brand in India, it has definitely slipped. In comparison, the Android smartphone market in India is one that is thriving and full of innovation,” Prabhu Ram, Head of Industry Intelligence Group at CyberMedia Research (CMR), was quoted as saying. The firm anticipates nearly 45 percent year-on-year decline in iPhone shipments in the fourth quarter of 2018.
