Apple's sales team Restructures in India experiencing sluggish growth

Apple has sold less than a million iPhones in India in the first half of 2018, according to Bloomberg . The company suffered from slowing sales in the world's largest smartphone market, which would have seen three executives leave Apple as the company restructures its operations there.

Among the executives who left are his national chief of sales and distribution, the head of its commercial and mid-market channels, and the chief of telecom sales, said the people, who asked not to be identified discuss internal issues. The Indian sales team of Apple is currently being restructured, according to one of the interviewees.

Apple has a 2% market share in India, according to Counterpoint Research. It sold 3.2 million iPhones in the country in 2017, but high tariffs on imported electronics continue to push consumers toward cheaper alternatives from Xiaomi, Samsung and other phone makers . In February, India announced that the latest tax increase on imported mobile phones has gone from 15% to 20%, and this, less than two months after the previous increase.

Last year, Apple began manufacturing iPhone SE and iPhone 6S in India in order to exempt phones from import duties and reduce their price, but the company's facilities still need to operate at full capacity. Apple does not manufacture its latest iPhone models on a national scale, so they still incur import levies.
"IPhone sales in India have been weak in the first half of 2018 and, although they are posting a big jump in the traditionally strong second half, Apple will still be falling short of last year," Neil said. Shah, research director at Counterpoint. who spoke to Bloomberg .

Apple CEO Tim Cook made optimistic comments about the company's performance in the Indian market, despite Apple's sluggish growth and its single-digit market share .

Cook believes that budding Indian youth will seek to improve their devices as they climb the socio-economic ladder, but sales have not yet reflected that prediction. Apple has also been criticized for the poor performance of basic services like Apple Maps and Siri in India, suggesting that Apple's ecosystem has not yet been adapted to the use and the value of Indian users.