Samsung Beats Apple as Premium Smartphone Seller; Tim Cook admits iPhone Costs Unnecessarily High in India

Two smartphone makers, Samsung and Apple, have been at war with each other since the first iPhone launch and the debate finally settled last year when Samsung agreed to pay $548 Million in patent case to Apple. However, both the companies continue to race for the top place in premium phone market segment and until now, Apple had been leading the pack.

In 2015-2016, Samsung finally left Apple behind to capture a market share of nearly 47%. The premium phone category comprises of smartphones above the price of Rs. 30,000, which is Apple’s most important segment.

Apple’s share stood at 45%, which is not too poor as compared to Samsung, but this news shows that Indians have started appreciating Samsung and Android over Apple. It is worth noting that Samsung’s S6, S6 Edge and Note 5 were the major products to counter Apple’s 6, 6 Plus, 6S and 6S Plus.

Tim Cook agreed iPhone costs a tad higher in countries other than the US

In a shocking, but an obvious, statement from Tim Cook read, “I recognize that prices are high. We want to do things that lower that over time to the degree that we can.”

Well, if you look at iPhone 6S and 6S Plus prices in India, you’ll probably turn your back against the company for pricing the models at costs more than their cheapest Macbooks. Most people were really angry with the fact that even before duties and taxes, the smartphone prices are exorbitantly high.

Adding to this, the Government of India refused Apple’s plea to sell refurbished iPhones in India, which we think could have helped Apple gain more market share in India. However there is one positive news for Indians, which is Apple’s local manufacturing setup by Foxconn to produce ‘Made in India’ iPhones.

This essentially means the prices of iPhones will come down and probably suit the Indian wallets better.

Why did Apple’s sales dwindle in India?

Apple’s sales globally have been declining and India is the only exception to this fact (in this quarter) as their India market grew by healthy 56 percent.

Sales in India have not been too good, specially with the launch of iPhone SE which failed to impress the people and gather any sales. So it is quite possible that since iPhone’s sales have declined, the market share also reduced, rather than stay constant.

This is a wake up call to Apple and we hope Tim Cook is planning to address the concern this year itself. We will have to wait and watch how much impact local manufacturing makes on prices and whether people will be ready to shell out the prices decided.

Source: ETTelecom