After years of treading water, or worse, sinking, Apple is finally ready to make a concerted push into India.
Harsh Chauhan for The Motley Fool:
Apple’s fortunes in India — the world’s second-largest smartphone market — have been turning around despite the negative impact of the novel coronavirus pandemic on the country’s economic situation.
The iPhone maker recorded a 5% increase in shipments in India in the second quarter of 2020 while the overall market plunged — an impressive feat considering the premium pricing of Apple devices in the Indian context. Now the smartphone giant seems all set to make further inroads into this market…
Apple has been selling its devices in India for more than a decade through resellers, but it was only in September of this year that the company finally launched an online store in the country. This makes India the 38th country with an online Apple store that allows users to purchase the company’s products and other services directly.
This move couldn’t have come at a better time. The California company’s decision to launch an entry-level device in the form of the new iPhone SE has worked well for it in price-sensitive markets such as India. In fact, strong sales of the iPhone SE are seen as the reason behind Apple’s shipment growth in India last quarter.
MacDailyNews Take: Because the Indian government is working to incentivize smartphone production in India, new local manufacturing could help Apple reduce the price of iPhones in India by as much as 30% by eliminating import duties. This, along with the new online store and physical retail stores to come next year finally makes Apple’s future in India bright!