Apple’s iPhone sale for the FY2017 saw a significant boost of 50 per cent. But according to reports, the figures are still not a good enough response for the newly launched iPhone 8 and 8 Plus. Amit Mishra, an analyst, said that “Apple sold a total of 1.5 million units of iPhone in India in the year ended September 2017, and it is a 50 per cent growth compared with the last fiscal year.”
Despite turning a hefty profit, Apple in India failed to gain the typical attraction we are used seeing during iPhone launches. Even the pre-orders for iPhone 8 series’s were sluggish. It seems like the device has an unlikely foe to blame.
While most of us expect the iPhone X to be the culprit for the fall in demand, the stats presented by Misra state just the opposite. He said that “the customer preference for iPhone 6 and iPhone 7 in India is more compared to the iPhone 8 series. It is in the 70:30 range as per the last three weeks statistics,” I bet Apple didn’t see that coming.
Mishra believes that the festive season spiked the iPhone 6 and iPhone 7 sales. “During the Diwali and special sales season, on e-commerce platforms, these products’ bottom price reached just above Rs 30,000. Then, customers found it very unworthy to go for a high-priced phone with no new features,” he said.
Well, us Indians love a good bargain, don’t we?
The iPhone 8 series, which was supposed to be an upgrade from the iPhone 7 lineup, didn’t sit well with the Indian iPhone buyers. Being Indians, we always look for value for money, and on those terms, iPhone 8 didn’t have much to offer. According to the analyst, “They (Apple) haven’t offered a dual camera, and the display is only LCD and no other latest features. The Samsung Galaxy S8 has curved AMOLED panel. All are waiting for the iPhone X to be launched next month.”
On the global front, Apple Inc’s shares fell nearly 3 per cent as a result of less demand for the iPhone 8 series in the US and Canadian markets. Apple might have pushed away potential iPhone 8 buyers by calling iPhone X the “future of smartphones”. Not so smart now, huh?
These are just the initial results. There’s still time for the sales to pick up, what with Christmas and New Year’s just around the corner. Apple is definitely keeping their fingers crossed. And we’ll be waiting patiently in the sidelines to see how it plays out in the end.