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When Apple releases its results on Wednesday, you can expect mentions from India on the call.
Apple shipped over 1.5 million iPhones to India in the quarter that ended in December, up 100% year-over-year, making it its best quarter of the year. large global smartphone market to date, according to research companies Counterpoint and CyberMedia.
Thanks to improved sales of the iPhone 11, iPhone XR, iPhone 12 and the new older iPhone SE, Apple doubled its market share in India to 4% during the past year. quarter, according to research companies.
Overall, Apple shipped over 3.2 million iPhone units to India in 2020, up 60% year-over-year, Counterpoint said.
The growth in shipments comes months after Apple launched its online store in the country and offered customers a wide range of financing and upgrade options, AppleCare +, and lucrative benefits such as a bundle. Free AirPods with the purchase of the iPhone 11. The company plans to open its first physical retail store in the country later this year.
For more than a decade, Apple has struggled to sell its phones in India due to the high price tags they carry. Most smartphones shipped to India cost between $ 100 and $ 200. Samsung and a group of Chinese smartphone vendors including Xiaomi, Oppo and Vivo have flooded the market over the past decade with their affordable smartphones.
Nonetheless, in recent years, Apple has visibly grown increasingly interested in the country which is also one of the fastest growing smartphone markets in the world. The company’s contract manufacturers are now assembling a range of iPhone models and some accessories locally – an effort the company started more than two years ago. (A recent violent event at an Indian facility of Wistron, one of Apple’s contract manufacturers, however, underscored some of the challenges Apple will face as it seeks to ramp up its local production efforts in the country.)
The move allowed Apple to lower the prices of some older-generation iPhone models in India, where for years the company passed import duties on to customers. The starting price for the iPhone 12 Pro Max is $ 1,781 in India, compared to $ 1,099 in the United States (Apple has yet to start assembling iPhone 12 devices locally). AirPods Pro, which sell for at $ 249 in the US, was made available in India at $ 341 at launch. Likewise, AirPods Max cost $ 815 in India, compared to $ 549 in the United States (It doesn’t help that an average person in India earns $ 2,000 per year.)
Unlike most foreign companies that offer their products and services for free in India or at some of the lowest prices in the world, Apple has focused entirely on a small fraction of the population who can afford to pay a lot of money. , Jayanth Kolla, chief analyst at Convergence Catalyst, told TechCrunch.
That’s not to say Apple hasn’t made some changes to its pricing strategy for India. Apple Music’s monthly cost is $ 1.35 in India, compared to $ 9.99 in the United States. Its Apple One plan, which includes Apple Music, TV +, Arcade, and iCloud, costs $ 2.65 per month in India.
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