Yeah, I’m sure if they sold a plastic iPhone with an A11 chip and a single lens camera for like $399, it would do well. Their India and China strategies are not good.
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Apple Stops Selling Lower-Cost iPhones in India
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The audience that Apple is targeting in India would rather buy it cheaper from Hong Kong, Dubai or other countries when they go for vacations or ask their family members to get it for them as it is much much cheaper to get it from those countries than from India.
Indians, like most Asian markets, love big phones, which is why most phones that are sold in India are around the 5.7" screen sizes from Xiaomi, OnePlus, Samsung etc.
Not sure about other Asian countries but you are very wrong about India in that regards. Apple is an aspirational premium brand and people love to flaunt it there but not the old models rather the latest ones.
THIS!
And also, the services from Apple are pathetic in India. Maps is terrible, Apple Music has very less selection of regional content, iCloud is meaningless in a country where internet connection is unstable, Siri is hopeless (well, it is the same worldwide) in comparison to G-Assistant or Alexa. But hopefully with Apple concentrating in a lot of India-centric features in iOS 13, maybe, just maybe they may be able to market it, especially now with the manufacturing of the latest models, which would in turn help them lower the prices by circumventing the import taxes and duties.
Apple really needs to advertise how the processing prowess of their phones are better than the competitors, in a tech-loving country where people love to get the phones with the latest processors and with more RAM. When Xiaomi can come out with a 250 USD Poco F1 with Snapdragon 845 and 6GB of RAM, I don't understand what's holding Apple back with advertising how their A-series are so much more powerful than the Snaps, Kirins and Exynoses.
Then we should start with US where people pay for iPhones and Macs less than almost any other country.
xiaomi mi 9 also has a better camera score then iphone max and its a budget priced phone.
but these dxomark scores i take with a grain of salt i think they are selling the ranking for a price
coz i have compared with real life pics and they dont match
but nothing comes remotely to pixel phones i went to a wedding with 500ppl with 500phones
in toronto and my pics were #1 the most impressive accomplishment of my photographic life
nothing was even remotely as good.
even hauwie maybe paying dxomark money they dont compare to pixel camera
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I mean ... it would be pathetic to continue selling a product that cannot even support its upcoming iOS version. It’s sad enough it took them so long. Taking advantage of the poor much.
The SE and the iPhone 6S are the same.
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The iPhone SE, 6S and 6S+ are supported through iOS 13.
Not even counting the money that would go into designing new, Asia dedicated phone, designing accessories , possibly adapting Appstore, making new factory lines, pushing money into advertising and marketing, integrating Apples ecosystem to work with weaker models, dealing with extra mess and product positions in logistics etc...Apple is just not a brand that will push cheap stuff and chase biggest amounts sold, this is just not their business direction. Apple might use some short term tools to appear affordable, but their shelf price is just what it is. Android fills that “cheaper but sell more position”. It’s like asking, why Maserati doesn’t have cheap models for middle class in India- they just don’t, it’s not their company's strategy lol.
They aren't selling very many of them. As they are trying to get over $400 for a phone which came out four years ago. A phone which can be bought used for 1/3rd the price. In a country where the average annual income is $650 to $1,500 a year (depending on the source you look at) and upper middle class jobs have a salary of $13K to $30K. It's no wonder Apple only sold about 1.8MM iPhones in 2018 in India. It's estimated iPhone sales have crashed 42% in 1Q2019 in India.
It might take some engineering. We aren't talking about a premium phone though. They don't need to develop new tech for a budget phone. They can use the same parts used by Android handset manufacturers to make a nice budget phone. All that really matters is the OS, making drivers and testing. It's not simple but doesn't require anywhere near the R&D budget of a new flagship.
As I gave the Nokia 7.1 and Moto One as examples for specs. These are $200 to $250 phones (retail, unlocked). If Apple can shift these in volume in emerging markets at $300 to $350 respectively. That's a huge profit margin. As those phones will cost less than the $200 to $250 to manufacture. Well within the margin Apple is thought to get on premium models. Perhaps a higher margin.
Of course Apple won't do it. As they won't want to risk those models hurting high end sales. Even if they only sell them in emerging markets. They'll make it to premium markets via grey market importers.
Then again is it even worth it to go after those markets with cheap new models? People who are very cost conscious aren't likely to buy ancillary services, software or premium adapters. About 15% of phone sales are iPhones but they make up about 70% of app developer revenue.
These are some engineering nonetheless and they cannot “just use” materials used by Android device. Tests about those materials need to be made before mass production, and compromises need to be made for lower cost. Considering Apple’s years of experience on producing iPhone with aluminium And the overall failure of iPhone 5c, I highly doubt Apple will adapt to lower end market any more. Heck, I would say designing a new flagship is easier than designing a budget iPhone because Apple has way more experience on that side of the spectrum.
Talking about the compromise, what about the processor? Apple certainly wont use latest and the greatest on their budget iPhone, so they will more than likely put a 3-4 years old processor into that iPhone, meaning even if it is a “new” iPhone it is obsolete already, which is not what Apple want for promised software support.
I do want to say, what you say and what other members say shows a huge gap of understanding of engineering between marketing team and engineering team. It happens very often, though.
He must not travel much or purchase iPhones in other countries much, the nerve of that guy
My son just bought a new 6+, New iPhones are just too expensive.
I have an SE, and my next phone will be an Android, I am simply not paying Apples prices anymore.
Thankfully I have not invested must in iTunes , App Store, or any other part of the "eco system" so I am not trapped there. Its been an excellent learning experience though about the dangers of ecosystems.
I have now bought a RaspberryPi as my intro to Linux.
Their brand image relies on being on a higher tier company. Cheaper models also means having to support more models and cutting more features from future releases, bringing more fragmentations. That's not to mention the issue of needless cannibalization. Besides, a cheap model would essentially be the internals of a old models, which would make it pointless for apple to retool the outer casing just for India.
This.
Avoiding cannibalisation of higher-priced models elsewhere.
I can't imagine engineering, manufacturing and logistics to be the decisive factor for a company that still makes iPod touches, iPad minis, even non-4k Apple TV - which are just 30$ less than the better 4k models.
How does in take advantage if one wants to buy the product. That’s not the definition of taking advantage.
It might not be the decisive factor, but it IS a critical factor. Unless Apple uses old iPhone chassis and slightly better internals like iPhone SE, engineering, manufacturing and logistics costs exist. Apple still makes iPod touches iPad minis and non-4K Apple TV because they have built these products before, and related R&D costs are already recovered. Not so much when they want to build a brand new budget iPhone for India.