Apple is veeerrryyy slow to learn that they've priced out anyone upper middle class and below. Some dude isn't going to sell his house or children to buy an iPhone, no matter where they live.
True story.
My last Android Phone costed me about $80 - it has 3GB of RAM, 8 Cores, Dual SIM Cards, SD Card Slot, 32Gb ROM, 6 Inch Screen and a replaceable 4000 Mah battery - apart from the camera it's higher spec than most iPhones that have come out in recent years
This is something only an Indian would say.
Why in shock ? Look at how average Indians work and make money - its the government that can afford the phones, while normal citizens still can't survive.
There are fewer than a million families in India (maybe far fewer in fact) who can afford to buy smartphones worth USD 1000 for every member of their family and then upgrade each year. And you can't expect all of them to actually spend USD 1000 per year per person in the family. Of those who do, Apple has >90% market share already.
A recent report cited Apple India's market share in > $600 smartphones at 72%. So they're selling as many pieces as they can at their current price point. Black market or black money or not, anybody is genuinely well off and wants to buy an iPhone, does buy it most of the time. However, their market share even in the luxury segment is going down as people don't want to buy phones from last year or SE or even XR!
Yes, purchasing power is far higher than illustrated in this thread with hundred's of thousands of families actually being millionaire households in reality. And even taking regular Europe trips and buying expensive stuff. And that isn't reflected in official numbers. But even the reality is far worse than what most Indians are trying to portray in this thread.
No matter what the price, Apple can't really increase their India sales to global numbers. Not even if they halve their prices. And certainly not in the next 10 years.
They shouldn't be chasing marketshare in India. However, manufacturing locally will allow them to decrease the street prices by 20-25% (with a slightly lower margin). And that is all they need to do for India.
Indians are unlikely to buy India specific phones either. But if an iPhone that costs USD 1000 in USA is available for INR 70000 (approx USD 950) in India, that's all that is needed to maybe increase their unit sales by 3-5x and allow it to continue to grow at 20-40% year on year growth.
But nothing else will help. Even if an Indian does own an iPhone, few own any other Apple device. They aren't bothered about the ecosystem or services. Slightly better customer service with Indian manufacturing coupled with slightly reduced margins would be enough to decrease street prices by 20-25% and that is enough to up their unit sales by 3-5x within 12 months!
But that's it. Don't expect anything more regardless of the price point.
