Apple is to stop selling the iPhone 6/Plus in India as it seeks to boost its brand image in the country. Although it has suffered from declining sales in the country, it apparently believes that protecting its premium image is the best way to make headway among the country’s emerging middle class …
India’s Economic Times reports that it follows a decision to restrict sales of the iPhone SE – which remains on sale – to the web.
Apple also wants to ensure that customers receive a premium service in-store, and is withdrawing support from smaller dealers.
“It wants to reinforce the brand’s ‘premiumness’ in the Indian market and increase average selling prices. Apple has no plans to immediately drop prices of iPhone 6s, which is locally manufactured,” an executive said.
The decisions have likely been taken by Apple’s new head of India operations, Ashish Chowdhary. Chowdhary had been Nokia’s Chief Customer Operations Officer for the past 15 years, and was said to have been hired for his depth of knowledge of the Indian smartphone market.
Apple has been struggling in the country for some time, its market share falling as low as 1% in 2018. The company undertook a restructuring of its executive team in response, with three senior execs departing the company last year.
It’s a somewhat surprising decision to make the in-store entry-level iPhone more expensive given that Apple has been heavily discounting in China, so it’ll be interesting to see how the move plays out.
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