Apple hit: iPhone shipments shrink 50%, worst since 2014-15

Apple's woes in India continue to grow and the latest being the iPhone shipments. The iPhone shipments are estimated to have shrunk to half as that of sales in 2017, worst since 2014. The company had recently cut production by 20 per cent due to decreasing sales globally.

Reports from Hong Kong-based Counterpoint Technology Market Research projected Apple’s India shipments in 2018 at 1.6-1.7 million in 2018 while CyberMedia Research estimates about 2 million iPhone sales. Both these estimates are lower than the company’s total iPhone sales of 3.2 million in 2017. The primary reason for declining sales for Apple in India is high pricing as companies like OnePlus, Vivo and other Chinese manufacturers are offering high-end smartphones at a much affordable price.

Analysts suggest that Apple may have shipped about 4 lakh iPhones between October and December while OnePlus, the leader in the premium smartphone segment shipped about 5 lakh units. “Apple had been rising every year until 2017… the 2018 shipments will be at the level of 2014-15, setting them three years back in a market that has grown 50 percent between 2014-15 and 2018”, said Neil Shah, research director at Counterpoint Research to Business Telegraph.

Apple’s India business grew from $100-200 million a few years ago to over $2 billion in 2016 and flattened out after that, Apple CEO Tim Cook said in an interview to CNBC last week. The Cupertino-based company still considers India to be an important market and says it has “more work to do” to get better results in the future. India’s smartphone market almost doubled to 150 million units in 2018 from about 80 million in 2014. Comparatively, Apple’s shipments have risen to 1.6-1.7 million now — a market share of about 1.2 percent— compared with 1.5 million in 2014, according to Counterpoint. Apple plans to open its stores in India would like the duty on import to be cut which is resulting in the price of iPhones crossing over Rs 1 lakh. “Chinese brands have 30-40 percent cheaper pricing than Apple. It doesn’t make sense to pay sky-high prices for a product that doesn’t have new features,” said Prabhu Ram, head-industry intelligence group at Cyber-Media Research, adding that iPhones won’t even support 5G until 2020.

Media reports said Apple might assemble its top-end iPhones in India through the local unit of Foxconn Technology Co. this year, a move that could result in cost savings that can be passed on to consumers.