In 2020, Apple will go all-out to sell iPhones in India

“In 2020, Apple will go all-out on India,” Tarun Pathak, an associate director at Counterpoint, told Bloomberg News. In 2019, Apple’s iPhone sales in India grew 6% versus a 43% decline in the previous year, stabilizing its position, but the company’s 2019 shipments are still down more than a quarter from 2016 as iPhones struggle to make headway in India against cheap smartphones.

Saritha Rai for Bloomberg News:

Discounting the iPhone XR by $250 in the middle of the year made it Apple’s best-selling phone in the country, according to Counterpoint Technology Market Research. The fall introduction of the iPhone 11, with a reduced starting price, “helped to gain share during the festive season and in its launch quarter in India,” the researchers added.

In a country where the annual per-capita income barely exceeds $2,100, an iPhone with a four-figure price tag is an out-of-reach aspirational object for most. Apple is having to go up against Android rivals averaging prices below $200 and its market share is correspondingly low: of the roughly 158 million smartphones shipped in India in 2019, Apple sold less than 2 million…

“Apple is shifting focus from older-generation iPhones to selling the latest models and that is a big change,” said Tarun Pathak… Additionally, Apple is set to unveil a successor to the iPhone SE in March… The company has also been eyeing locations for brick-and-mortar Apple stores in India, showing renewed interest in the fast-growing market. “In 2020, Apple will go all-out on India,” Pathak said.

MacDailyNews Take: For Apple in India, there’s really max headroom. With no place to go but up for Apple in India, here’s to 2020!