In August last year, Apple’s head Cook said, “We are investing in India because I see that the Indian market has many similarities with China a few years ago. ' In fact, Apple’s investment in India The return is still far from the Chinese market. At least for a few years, the sales of the iPhone are still unable to rank among the top five in the local area.
Less than 1% share
On Tuesday, market research firm Counterpoint Research released the latest research report on the Indian smartphone market. The report shows that in the second quarter of 2018, Samsung once again surpassed the domestic brand Xiaomi and regained the top position of India's first smartphone manufacturer. Before Xiaomi made a big push into India, it has ranked first in two consecutive quarters. Samsung returned to the top of the list mainly relying on the upgraded version of the mid-range Galaxy J series, incorporating the dual camera and facial recognition functions of the flagship machine.
Overall, the Indian smartphone market ushered in a 21% growth in the second quarter of this year, mainly due to new product launches and awesome promotions. As can be seen from the above, in addition to Samsung, the entire Indian market Almost swept by Chinese mobile phone manufacturers, and still growing. Integrating other brands' 'other' column data, the market share has dropped from 36% to 18%.
It should be noted that Apple's iPhone market share in India is in the 'other' category. How much market share does the Apple iPhone occupy?
Counterpoint Research pointed out in the report that Apple's iPhone market share in India was only less than 1% this quarter, which is the lowest point ever. The report believes that Apple's distribution strategy has changed, so the second quarter results Growth is slow. In addition, Apple's iPhone assembly plant in India is progressing too slowly, which means that Apple's local sales of iPhone still depends on imports.
In addition to the reasons pointed out in the report, because the iPhone is positioned in the high-end market, it is difficult to get enough attractiveness in India. According to the World Bank data, India has a per capita gross domestic product (GDP) of less than 2,000 US dollars. The country, and the price of high-end iPhone simply can not adapt to the local market consumption level. It is understood that the iPhone X in India starts at about $1200.
Cook is still putting a long line
However, Apple is ready to fight a long war in India, indicating that it may take many years to gain a certain market share, but it is also much more meaningful than the big and big market share. Over the past few years, Apple has targeted China. Market investment has been very patient, and this strategy has now received a good return, so Apple will certainly be patient with the Indian market.
Considering that China has grown stronger than the middle class for more than a decade, Cook is still confident in the Indian market. In the previous quarter’s earnings conference call, Cook reiterated his confidence in the Indian market and took India Compared with the situation in China, he said:
'We are investing in India. I have seen that India has many similarities with China a few years ago, so I am very optimistic about India, we will continue to increase investment in India. In India, we start from scratch, ourselves It has created a lot of things. What kind of development strategy to adopt in a country depends on the actual situation in the country, such as retail, e-commerce and foreign investment. We are expanding our sales channels and focusing on expanding our products. The sales network. India is a huge market, and it is clear that over time, many people will enter the middle class, as we have seen in other countries.'
According to previous news, in addition to the iPhone SE manufacturing and sales in India, starting from mid-June this year, the iPhone 6s series has also begun mass production at Wistron's factory in Bangalore. Apple hopes that the iPhone will expand through this production base. The scale of 'Made in India' will increase production capacity by two or three times in the next five years, thereby reducing the impact of the growing import tariff on iPhone.