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This story is from August 1, 2018

6. Why India matters little for Apple

6. Why India matters little for Apple
Apple reported better than expected revenues of $53.3 billion and profits of $11.5 billion — a jump of 32% — for the April-June quarter. This, despite its sales in India, which contribute only 5.9% of the revenues, falling.
Here’s why the world’s second most populous nation matters less to the world’s most valuable company:
Your iPhone is not the same as theirs
  • Apple’s best-selling model in India is the iPhone 6, which is four years old, and not available for purchase in most markets outside the subcontinent. The model retails for well under Rs 30,000 and, thus, holds less value to Apple.
  • In contrast, though iPhone’s global sales increased just 1% in the quarter, revenues from sales shot up 20%. That is, Apple is selling more premium phones across the world — the iPhone X, the latest and the most popular model, retails for around $1,000 and upwards in the US (Rs 89,000 for the base model in India, and over Rs 1 lakh for the 256GB variant).
  • Apple’s best markets are the Americas, Europe, Greater China and Japan, in that order.
You like discounts
  • Unhappy with the discounts retailers are offering, Apple recently reined in on its distribution network, kicking out a few retailers.
Do you game?
  • The second-best source of income for Apple after iPhone sales? Services. This is largely dominated by the revenue it earns on Apple store when you purchase an app, or spend on a game — Apple gets a share of every purchase. Less than 10% Indian smartphone users spend on apps.
Meanwhile, Apple moved closer to $1 trillion value after its stock rose by 5.9% on Wednesday, even as China’s Huawei overtook it to become the world’s second largest smartphone seller — despite regulations keeping it out of much of the US market.

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