Understanding Apple’s share in the Indian market or even in the global market for that matter, would have been much easier in the past. But 2016 didn’t turn out to be the best of years for Apple. Big expectations, bigger innovations, better products have all been the characteristics of Apple from its early years. But in the recent years, Apple has criticized for its lack of creating that signature “magic” that Apple products usually create. This is one of the reasons why the Indian share market saw some unexpected changes with respect to Apple.
Roughly from the time Tim Cook took over, there has been nothing big, no big releases from Apple. This was new to the Apple watchers, and critics. Investors aren’t very happy with Apple’s revenue progress in the recent quarters. Apple also saw a decline in the sales.
Apple’s share in the Indian market in 2016:
India has the third largest smartphone users segment in the world. Though the Android smartphones have been ruling the market, Apple too has been occupying a fair share in the Indian market. Its stocks have been growing without a glitch. This was however not the scenario in 2016. Here are some quick facts about the 2016 market scenario of iPhones and smartphones in general as well:
- The number of iPhones sold over the year was lower than that of the previous year. This was the first time this happened with iPhones. This is because, ever since the iPhones were released, the number of iPhones being sold in India has been rising steeply.
- In Q2 of 2015, there were 1.2 million iPhones sold in India. In Q2 2016, for the first time in Apple’s history in India, it saw a deep decline in the iPhone sales.
- The total number of smartphones shipped to India in 2016 was 30.7million. This was a 19% annual rise in the number of smartphones shipped to India. Only 0.8 million iPhones were shipped to India. This was in line with Apple’s predicted fall in the revenue for the second quarter of 2016.
- The year-over-year percentage of the shipment of iPhones fell down by 35%. Android continue to be the market leader in the smartphone segment occupying a whopping 97% of the total.
- Right from the beginning of 2016, Apple had expressed its interests in focusing better on the Indian market. Tim Cook’s first visit to India also created a lot of expectations on Apple. He had also remarked that Apple had better plans for the India market. Cook had also mentioned about the propositions of establishing app and map development units in different parts of India.
- The overall market share of Apple in India fell from 4% to 2% in 2016.
The current scenario and outlook for 2017:
In China, Apple has been facing a lot of issues with regards to regulations. In the US, the market is almost saturated. The Indian market too hasn’t seen a very promising growth in Apple’s position.
Several major tech giants like Google, Microsoft, Facebook and more have big plans for the Indian market. So Apple has a pretty tough competition to sustain thanks to the fact that the smartphone segment in India is one of the fastest growing ones globally.
Getting a feature packed smartphone with the latest technological advancements is pretty simple in the given market. And all these are also offered at competitive prices. This is the one factor that hits Apple hard in the Indian market. To address the cost issue, and to offer a reasonably priced iPhone, Apple had released iPhone SE. But that did not receive a warm welcome as predicted.
The news has been around that there has been a request for the setting up of an iPhone manufacturing plant in Bangalore, India. There are a lot of speculations about whether this step by Apple would improve its current state in the Indian market.
How would the manufacturing plants in India improve Apple’s market shares?
- If by 2017 Apple starts making iPhones in India, given the elimination of the import charges, there can be a fair share of prices being cut down.
- The lower cost might also be accompanied by better availability of the iPhones in India. More vendors would be able to easily stock iPhones and this would also expand its reach.
- The establishment of Apple’s manufacturing plant in India would also lead to a better job market, a better reputation in the business sector and the likes. This means that this would be a win-win situation.
Many things might change and there are bright chances for the market shares of Apple to take a positive turn if things work out well. Let us wait to watch what the year 2017 has to offer Apple and the Indian market.
If Apple’s manufacturing unit comes up, then iPhones would be cheaper and easier to buy- giving you all the more reasons to buy an iPhone. And when you are looking for iPhone services, we are here to sort your issues in no time.
