A 21-year-old Thane resident, Mahesh Palliwal, buys the first i phone X in Thane amid a huge procession (Photo by Praful Gangurde/Hindustan Times via Getty Images)
A 21-year-old Thane resident, Mahesh Palliwal, buys the first i phone X in Thane amid a huge procession (Photo by Praful Gangurde/Hindustan Times via Getty Images) 
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Apple Turning Sour? iPhones Are Losing The Charm In India, Says Research Firm; Android Picking Up Like Never Before

BySwarajya Staff

As per reports by research firm Counterpoint, Apple’s iPhone sales are set to dip by around a quarter in India’s fourth holiday season quarter, putting them on course for the first full-year fall in four years.

Apple planned to sell about 2 million phones in the year of 2018, that is, a drop of a million since last year as Indians have been jolted due to the high prices for the devices, caused by trade tariffs and the falling rupee.

The fall in sales echoed across the globe as Chief Executive Tim Cook said that sales fell flat in India in the fourth quarter, which includes a month-long festive season ending this week in Diwali, which is a very profitable period for the sales of electronic goods.

Neil Shah, research director at Hong Kong-based Counterpoint Research, said that the checks conducted by his company pointed to numbers for the quarter in the range of 700,000 to 800,000 units, down from about a million as compared to a year ago.

Reuters quoted Shah as saying, “Sales are set to drop for the first time in four years. If you look at Q3 - it was 900k last year and this (year) is almost 450k."

Shah said that iPhones are becoming costlier and are not in line with features and specs. In addition, the android consumer base has grown massively, which is another reason why a new consumer base is not developing for Apple.