IPhone sales in India are expected to decline for the first time in four years

Apple's iPhone sales are expected to plummet by about a quarter in the fourth quarter of the holiday season in India, putting them on the first drop in four years, said Saturday the US firm Counterpoint. Apple's iPhone sales are expected to plummet by about a quarter in the fourth quarter of the holiday season in India, putting them on the first drop in four years, said Saturday the US firm Counterpoint. The Californian company's Cupertino, California, effort to punch 1.3 billion consumers in India intensified this week after Apple blamed disappointing sales forecasts on a handful of major emerging markets.

After the release of the third quarter results, CEO Tim Cook said sales were stable in India in the fourth quarter, including a month-long holiday season culminating in Diwali, a record-breaking sales of electronic products.

Neil Shah, Hong Kong-based research director of Counterpoint Research, said on Saturday that his chain checks revealed figures for the quarter ranging from 700,000 to 800,000 units, down from about one million a year earlier.

For the full year of 2018, Apple is expected to sell about 2 million phones, a decrease of about one million from last year, he said, while the Indians are reluctant to face the high prices of the apparatus, drawn by tariffs and a low rupee.

"Sales are expected to fall for the first time in four years," said Shah. "If you look at Q3 – it was 900k last year and this year is almost 450k.

"Phones have become more expensive and features and specifications are not as convincing. The Android installation base has increased significantly; the new clientele (for Apple) does not come. "

Cook said Thursday the company's problems in India "slowdowns on a very long trajectory" and most analysts believe that the prestige of the Apple brand should allow him to regain lost ground while the spending power of the Indian continues to grow.

Shah said that if more than half of the phones sold this year were older iPhone models, the high selling prices mean that Apple's Indian revenues are expected to remain stable or slightly higher than those of the previous year.