2018-11-05
Apple's iPhone sales are expected to fall by a quarter in the fourth quarter of the year, which includes the holiday season in India, putting it on track for its first full-year decline in four years, industry analyst firm Quarterpoint said.
 
The focus on Apple's difficulty in gaining access to India's 1.3 billion consumer market was further heightened last week after Apple blamed a disappointing series of hopes for sales forecasts on a handful of big emerging markets.
 
Apple CEO Tim Cook said after the third-quarter results were released that there was no change in sales in India in the fourth quarter, which includes a month-long celebration season, culminating this week in Diwali, a boom in electronics sales.
 
Neil Shah, director of research at Hong Kong-based Quarterpoint Research, said on Saturday that the company's channels had indicated that the numbers in the quarter were between 700,000 and 800,000 units, down from 1 million units a year earlier.
 
For the whole of 2018, Apple is expected to beat nearly 2 million phones, down about 1 million from last year, as Indian consumers are unwilling to pay high prices for phone purchases, which resulted from tariffs and the rupiah's fall, he said.
 
"Sales are expected to fall for the first time in four years," Shah said. If you look at the third quarter was 900 thousand units last year and this year about 450 thousand units "
 
"IPhone has become more expensive and its characteristics and specifications are not so attractive."