Thanks To Rising iPhone Prices In 2018, Apple Sales In India Will Be Worst Ever In Four Years

As its overseas markets stagnate, Apple for some time now has been hoping to offset declining iPhone sales with increasing numbers from a growing market like India.

Unfortunately, recent data shows Apple isn't having much luck here either, even during Diwali.

According to research firm Counterpoint, Apple is struggling to make sales in India, and their numbers are expected to take a big hit this shopping season. As one of the firm's analysts, Neil Shah, points out, channel inventory checks indicate that iPhone sales in India are on track to to finish up anywhere between 700,000 to 800,000 units during Q4 2018.

Unfortunately for them, that's at least a million less than their sales numbers in the same quarter last year. And as for the previous Q3, iPhone sales were steady at about 450,000 units, down 900,000 units from last year. "Sales are set to drop for the first time in four years," Shah told Reuters. "If you look at Q3 - it was 900k last year and this (year) is almost 450k."

In fact, Apple might end up selling only around 2 million iPhones in India by the end of 2018. That's a marked difference from the 3 million they sold in 2017. That makes it Apple's first India-focused sales decline in four years.

During their earnings call this week, CEO Tim Cook reassured shareholders that he's still optimistic about the Indian government allowing Apple to open retail stores in the country. "We've had really great productive discussions with the Indian government," he said. "And I fully expect that at some point they will agree to allow us to bring our stores into the country."

In fact, he's convinced (or is at least claiming he is) that this is nothing but a "speed bump" along the way, and that the burgeoning middle class will soon be an audience they can rely on.

Unfortunately for Apple, a lack of retail stores aren't the only reason they're having trouble selling iPhones. The main problem more likely is that Indians are generally looking for the best deal they can. So while there's now a major influx of Android devices at flagship quality with a fraction of the iPhone's price, Apple's pricing has also steadily increased over the past couple of years.

"iPhones have gone costlier and the features and specs aren't that compelling. The install base of Android has grown vastly; the new customer base (for Apple) is not coming," Shah said.

At the very least, Apple's actual revenue is expected to remain stable or slightly higher than last year thanks to its ridiculous prices, despite "more than half the phones sold" in India being older variants. But that's a very precarious foothold for Apple to hang on to.