Dual-SIM Dual Standby Feature May Be Limited to Version of 6.1-Inch iPhone Available Only in China

Ollé said:
I thought Kuo was getting out of the Apple predictions game? Or did he just move firms?
Click to expand...

He moved to mainland China to a better firm. It wouldn't make any sense for a young, well connected guy like him to stop.
 
Cayden said:
Seems reasonable to me, there seems to be a lot less demand for this in the states. I know some would use it, but the majority of people wouldn’t find much use for a double sim in that states at least
Click to expand...

Me thinks it is a carrier issue. US carrier subsidies iPhones that offer international add-on plans, if the carriers offer dual SIM phones the phone may not be able to be locked as to work with a secondary carrier, plus lost revenue from those international add-ons.
[doublepost=1533343349][/doublepost]
TComm said:
I need one for my work, do I have to go to China to buy one? /s
That is Apple's problem: "you don't know want you want, I know what you want". The mentally never changes.
Click to expand...

Apple sells an iPhone regardless, it must be a US carrier concern. I hope we get these dual SIM version in Canada where carriers cannot legally lock the device.
[doublepost=1533343564][/doublepost]
nebo1ss said:
Actually anyone who travels frequently needs this feature. I live in Europe and am travelling overseas at the moment and using two phones my regular iPhone eight with a UK SIM and an older iPhone 5S with a local SIM.
Click to expand...

Never underestimate how many iPhones carriers offload to their customers with upgrades, discounts, promos, etc. I suspect it’s a carrier demand in the US. Apple could solely sell the iPhone exclusively, however money talks to make shareholders happy and many people cannot afford these devices outright.
 
scrapesleon said:
Never really was a fan of dual sim but good to see Apple going into that market
Click to expand...

Fair enough, to each their own. Some people travel frequently, like market options and save money, nothing wrong with that. Best to have the option and not use it then to not have it and need it. How much more better can Apple squeeze by omitting the second SIM option.
 
Last edited:
JPack said:
Why would Apple knowingly divert dual-SIM inventory from a market it knows it will sell (China) to a market where consumers can't even afford iPhone SE (India)?

New phones always have long lead times. Maybe when production is smoothed out, dual-SIM will roll out worldwide. Initially, it makes sense to limit to China.
Click to expand...
You keep saying "... can't even afford the SE...". Fact of the matter is there are many other phones in the same price range or slightly above that of the SE with larger screens (One plus, Huawei, Xiaomi and a bunch of Samsung models I guess) and more 'attractive' specs (as much as it doesn't matter, things like specs tend to have an impact on the Indian consumer) that sell pretty well. So it is not affordability that impacts sales of the SE. As far as the other models go, I do agree that the pricing is a formidable deterrent in India for an overwhelming majority.
 
jackietreeh0rn said:
You keep saying "... can't even afford the SE...". Fact of the matter is there are many other phones in the same price range or slightly above that of the SE with larger screens (One plus, Huawei, Xiaomi and a bunch of Samsung models I guess) and more 'attractive' specs (as much as it doesn't matter, things like specs tend to have an impact on the Indian consumer) that sell pretty well. So it is not affordability that impacts sales of the SE. As far as the other models go, I do agree that the pricing is a formidable deterrent in India for an overwhelming majority.
Click to expand...
His comment was an over generalisation. There are presently over 10 million iPhone users in India. A number of factors including cost means the iPhone will never have a deep penetration in India but there are rich people in India as well.
 
KPandian1 said:
All five iPhones currently in our household are unlocked - bought that way.
Click to expand...

True, mine as well. However that is why I said “most”.
[doublepost=1533347203][/doublepost]
scrapesleon said:
Never really was a fan of dual sim but good to see Apple going into that market
Click to expand...

I am not a real fan of dual sim either however I travel internationally and it would be nice to have rather then swapping sims.

What WOULD be nice is if you could have dual radios as well so you could run two networks at the same time.
 
JPack said:
Last year, the average selling price of a smartphone in India was $157.

Feature phones ("dumb" phones) outsell smartphones in India. The average Indian can't afford a smartphone, much less an iPhone SE. This 6.1" model is way out of their budget.
Click to expand...

To be fair, people buy iPhones around the world even if they're poor.

For better or worse the majority of Indian buyers are driven by specs, the wealthiest probably prefer Android phones because Google services are so much better in India and I don't think people care about data mining, with WhatsApp and Facebook so popular. Apple maps, Pay, customer service is severely lacking compared to the UK, and I imagine even more so to the US. I mean from a population of 1Bn+ it would be naive to assume that a large enough number of those couldn't afford an iPhone.
 
Cayden said:
Seems reasonable to me, there seems to be a lot less demand for this in the states. I know some would use it, but the majority of people wouldn’t find much use for a double sim in that states at least
Click to expand...


Demand might be for people who don't want to carry two phones, which is a huge headache if you have ever done it-- one for work and personal phone.
 
AngstyKylo said:
To be fair, people buy iPhones around the world even if they're poor.

For better or worse the majority of Indian buyers are driven by specs, the wealthiest probably prefer Android phones because Google services are so much better in India and I don't think people care about data mining, with WhatsApp and Facebook so popular. Apple maps, Pay, customer service is severely lacking compared to the UK, and I imagine even more so to the US. I mean from a population of 1Bn+ it would be naive to assume that a large enough number of those couldn't afford an iPhone.
Click to expand...

The data shows Indians purchased 124 million smartphones last year. From that figure, only 4% were considered premium (>$450) smartphones. That means less than 5 million premium smartphones were sold in 2017.
[doublepost=1533361191][/doublepost]
jackietreeh0rn said:
You keep saying "... can't even afford the SE...". Fact of the matter is there are many other phones in the same price range or slightly above that of the SE with larger screens (One plus, Huawei, Xiaomi and a bunch of Samsung models I guess) and more 'attractive' specs (as much as it doesn't matter, things like specs tend to have an impact on the Indian consumer) that sell pretty well. So it is not affordability that impacts sales of the SE. As far as the other models go, I do agree that the pricing is a formidable deterrent in India for an overwhelming majority.
Click to expand...

The data above says otherwise.
[doublepost=1533361523][/doublepost]
nebo1ss said:
His comment was an over generalisation. There are presently over 10 million iPhone users in India. A number of factors including cost means the iPhone will never have a deep penetration in India but there are rich people in India as well.
Click to expand...

Around the world, there are 728 million iPhones in use.

About 15% of those users are in the U.S. And about 30% are in China.

India's 10 million iPhone users would represent 1.5%. It confirms how few "rich" people are living in India.
 
Last edited:
lec0rsaire said:
Dual SIM is more common in places where prepaid service is widespread like India, China and lots of developing countries. Americans for the most part all use postpaid service. Europeans as well, although more frugal people will buy cheap prepaid SIMs that are available from tons of companies instead of paying for Vodafone, o2, orange, Deutsche Telekom, etc.
Click to expand...

I am not sure I understood the logic of postpaid vs prepaid. I have always had postpaid in India and would love to separate my work and personal numbers or at least use data in one and calls in another. I don’t see myself carrying two phones. Most people in India have a similar use case. Multiple phones due to business, roaming was expensive a few years back so local vs other states, international trips and keep the India phone for incoming text (it’s free), cheating on your spouse maybe. Not sure about prepaid vs postpaid.
 
JPack said:
The data shows Indians purchased 124 million smartphones last year. From that figure, only 4% were considered premium (>$450) smartphones. That means less than 5 million premium smartphones were sold in 2017.
Click to expand...

Just to update you on the smartphone users number in India. 290 million users by 2017 and expected to reach 335 million by 2018 end.
https://dazeinfo.com/2018/05/07/smartphone-users-in-india-2018-2022-growth/


JPack said:
Around the world, there are 728 million iPhones in use.

About 15% of those users are in the U.S. And about 30% are in China.

India's 10 million iPhone users would represent 1.5%. It confirms how few "rich" people are living in India.
Click to expand...

If you are thinking this 1.5% is not bothering Apple, it is. https://www.thequint.com/tech-and-a...as-india-problem-and-2018-iphone-sales-showed

India, like China, is a dual-sim users market and to get themselves going in the maturing Indian market, they need to bring in what the market needs.
99.99% sure, that the dual-sim iPhones will be launched in all the Asian Markets and not limited to China.


P.S. Just read about the 'rich' comment...The High Net worth Individuals growth is the highest in India and they maybe choosing Samsung S9's and Note series, as they come with dual sim's in India.

https://www.deccanchronicle.com/bus...test-growth-in-wealth-and-hni-population.html
 
Last edited:
ksec said:
This is a common mistranslation between Chinese 億 (yi) and billion, and went pass editor unnoticed. There are only 1.4 billion population in China, 3.3B Smartphone users, and 5 billion Mobile Phone users on earth. I doubt there are 3 to 4 billion people using Dual SIM card
[doublepost=1533328092][/doublepost]

That could be the case as well. One reason China cant use eSim, or at least Apple implementation of eSim is due to regulation and privacy stance. Hence why the Apple Watch in china still don't have LTE version.
Click to expand...

I am 100% sure there are no 3-4 billion active dual sim phones, that's half of the earth's population, maybe they took into account all the old and discarded dual sim phones in the drawers.

But, I do know dual sim is widely used in Asia, been living there, mostly SE Asia.
 
I'm surprised there's not more demand for dual SIM already. My employer requires me to be contactable via mobile, so pays me a monthly allowance. This gives me the choice of either buying a phone & SIM for work and having to take two phone everywhere (my personal and work one), or using my personal number for work (which is then visible to everyone in the company) and then having work people call me at evenings, weekends and when I'm on holiday.

Dual SIM would allow me to just use my iPhone, but still control my work calls separately from my personal ones. I'm sure there must be many, many people in a similar situation.
 
riteshritesh said:
Just to update you on the smartphone users number in India. 290 million users by 2017 and expected to reach 335 million by 2018 end.
https://dazeinfo.com/2018/05/07/smartphone-users-in-india-2018-2022-growth/
Click to expand...

Sure, but the problem is what type of smartphone?

The #1 selling phone on Amazon.in is the Redmi 5 (Gold, 32GB). This is a $130 phone. Apple isn't playing in the mud selling low ASP phones.


riteshritesh said:
If you are thinking this 1.5% is not bothering Apple, it is. https://www.thequint.com/tech-and-a...as-india-problem-and-2018-iphone-sales-showed

India, like China, is a dual-sim users market and to get themselves going in the maturing Indian market, they need to bring in what the market needs.
99.99% sure, that the dual-sim iPhones will be launched in all the Asian Markets and not limited to China.
Click to expand...

Of course it's bothering Apple. India has a poor middle class that cannot afford Apple products.

Last year, the top 3 selling smartphones in China were the OPPO R9s, iPhone 7 Plus, and Vivo X9. They all exceed US$400.

India is a dual-SIM market... for $130 smartphones.
[doublepost=1533367570][/doublepost]
riteshritesh said:
P.S. Just read about the 'rich' comment...The High Net worth Individuals growth is the highest in India and they maybe choosing Samsung S9's and Note series, as they come with dual sim's in India.

https://www.deccanchronicle.com/bus...test-growth-in-wealth-and-hni-population.html
Click to expand...

As an example, in 2017, Mercedes-Benz sold:
  • 15k vehicles in India
  • 375k vehicles in U.S.
  • 610k vehicles in China
Summary: There are virtually no rich people living in India. Sure, Samsung and a few others are selling dual-SIM phones in India, but virtually none of them are premium phones. Apple is competing in the premium segment.
 
Last edited:
lostngone said:
True, mine as well. However that is why I said “most”.
[doublepost=1533347203][/doublepost]

I am not a real fan of dual sim either however I travel internationally and it would be nice to have rather then swapping sims.

What WOULD be nice is if you could have dual radios as well so you could run two networks at the same time.
Click to expand...

Erm.. I am pretty sure that's why dual sims are so popular in Asia, they are both on so they have 2 radio's.
My Asian girlfriend had a few before (she now has 2 phones) and they were both on at the same time.
 
Yes please!

On a recent project I was carrying three phones, one of which had three numbers (UK, US, and Australia). I am down to two phones now but one would be even better.
 
JPack said:
... the problem is what type of smartphone?

As an example, in 2017, Mercedes-Benz sold:
  • 15k vehicles in India
  • 375k vehicles in U.S.
  • 610k vehicles in China
Summary: There are virtually no rich people living in India. Sure, Samsung and a few others are selling dual-SIM phones in India, but virtually none of them are premium phones.
Click to expand...

What an ignorant statement? Based on luxury cars sales! Extrapolated to cellphones.:rolleyes:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Back
Top