It is not yet known whether Apple's practice of reducing the profitability of iPhone X retailers involves other countries and regions, including China.
According to the Indian Economic Times website reported that Apple recently notified iPhone X retailers and agents, the phone's retail profit margin from 6.5% to 4.5%, equivalent to a decrease of 30%.
The move made the retailers in India very unhappy, complaining that Apple itself relied on the iPhone X to get a huge profit margin, but reluctant to allow retail partners to share some of the profits.
Some retailers, including Sangeetha Mobiles, said they have stopped accepting consumer orders for the iPhone X. Subhash Chandra, head of Sangeetha Mobiles, said if consumers pay by credit card (in reality, most people use credit cards ), Then iPhone X's sales margin dropped to 1.5% to 2%. It is reported that this retail chain in India has 400 stores.
Chandra said: 'Apple gives the lowest profit, how could they expect retailers to give them free services, you know, our cost is about 10%.
Apple did not comment on the issue of reducing the profit of mobile phone sales.
According to Indian smartphone industry sources, vendors such as Samsung Electronics and China Xiaomi provide retailers twice as much profit margins as retailers such as Apple's iPhone X. In addition, to encourage retailers' enthusiasm and expand India's market share, including China OPPO , mobile phone manufacturers, including vivo, gave higher sales profits, but Apple has been reluctant to do so.
In addition, Apple's physical retailers in addition to the face of declining profits, but also face a large number of online retailers, online sales platform will often provide cash back or other discounts, including this year's iPhone X mobile phone, online retail The flexible adjustment of business, make iPhone sales appear unfair competitive environment.
Another head of the retail chain said that as more than 300 outlets in India have stopped buying iPhones due to declining profit margins and Apple's lack of reasonable control over online and offline prices.
According to Indian media before the sales of Apple mobile phones in India is very confusing.So far, Apple is still not opened in India retail stores, mainly through several agents and a large number of physical stores to sell, however, India's complex tax system , Coupled with the competition between agents, making the lack of unity in the iPhone price in the country, especially online retail prices lower than the store price.
The low share of Apple phones in the Indian market is mainly due to the high selling price of new phones in India's retail price of more than 1,000 US dollars, which makes consumers tend to buy cheaper old phones, such as in 2016, Apple's iPhone The 5S handset gained hot sales in the Indian market because retailers cut prices by half and inspired buying enthusiasm.
According to the Indian Economic Times reported that some small Indian retailers complained that the current iPhone X is already in tight supply, affecting sales, while Apple should not further reduce profits.
A non-retail retailer said the iPhone X is in short supply and some consumers are willing to pay higher prices, so retailers have no alternative but to accept Apple's policy of lowering profits.
Another Indian handset retailer said that in the three weeks after the launch of the iPhone X, they had only taken 400 iPhones X, less than Apple initially promised, adding to the tight supply.
Some analysts said Apple should put the Indian market in a more important position to boost the supply of the iPhone X.
However, some insiders also said that Apple actually more emphasis on the Indian market than in the past, such as India's iPhone X sale time than South Korea, Thailand and other countries earlier.