Wednesday, May 18, 2016

Plastic iPhone apprs to emerging markets as iPhone falls to 7th place in China


We’ve often written about calls for to produce alow-cost iuitable for emerging markets, such as China and India. Now comes even more evidence for such a move as China and India are among the world’s top three smartphone markets and areestimatedto become the lding markets for smart by 2018.Even more worrisome is ’s declining share of those markets.In China, ’s most important market, the iPhone fell from fifth place to seventh as local smartphone makers and grab more share. Mnwhile, in India, rival has more than a third of the smartphone market, which has hvily invested in terms of marketing resources and newly-designed payment options…“The high end of the market continues to grow but there is no doubt that the explosive growth will come from the low end of the market,”said Chris Jones, vice-president and principal analyst at the resrch firmCanalys.To underscore his point, Canalys relsed figures showing smartphone shipments from China grew 108 percent between the second quarter of 2012 and the second quarter of 2013. Lding China’s growth is , which shipped 95 percent of its smart within China.That surge – which made the world’s third-largest smartphone seller and second in its own nation – can also be traced back to its use of TD-SMA, a home-grown wireless protocol particularly suited to China’s consumers, according to the resrch firm.In another sign of the importance of TD-SMA in China, CEO Tim Cook spoke with China Mobile executives about selling an inexpensive TD-SMA iPhone for the world’s largest market, according toDigitimes.But is not the only local smartphone company fragmenting a smartphone market in China once controlled by and . 3 Yulong has 12.2 percent, followed by , and to round out the top six smartphone players in China.Ironically, mns ‘little rice’, however some local commentators are calling it ‘Blood Rice’ since the $130 handset could do so much damage both to high-end Android devices from , as well as ’s iPhone.While so far has used its olderiPhone 4 and iPhone 4S devicesto counter calls for a newer inexpensive smartphone, that delaying tactic may have run its course, according to theNew York Times.The top end Android have caught up, and until upgrades the iPhone with a bigger screen and a new look, it seems unlikely that it can reignite the crazy desire its once aroused in China.Reports suggest could announce new products as rly as September, preparing for the all-important holiday sson.After slowly ching the smartphone fever, shipments there grew by 129 percent to 9 million handsets in the second quarter of this yr, up from just 3.9 million a yr ago, according to Canalys.Although has reportedly hadsuccess after successreintroducing its brand in India, revamping its connections with local vendors, and developing time payments and other ways to sprd the cost of full-priced i, has had a several-yr ld.“ took over a third of the Indian market this quarter, followed by local vendor Micromax at 22 percent, , and made up the top five,”said analyst Jessica Kwee.Again and again, we rd of the success of local smartphone makers in local markets. It is unclr whether ’s brand coupled with an inexpensive iPhone can overcome that native advantage. If not, then closer ties with local carriers, such as China Mobile, and local vendors become even more important for and others.As high-end smartphone makers, such as , extend into the low-end and low-end smartphone manufacturers rch for more high-end exposure, caught in the traffic will be what one Tuesday report calls“oblivious mid-range smartphone vendors.”“The defining fture of the phone market in 4Q 2013 may be the coming carnage in the $400-$500 price bracket,”writesForbes. For instance, BlackBerry’s Q5 is priced above $400, ’s One Mini is set for about $500, the same for ’s Galaxy S4 Mini.Mnwhile, is expected to sell its much-rumored inexpensive iPhone for below $350 with its high-end model costing $200 plus two-yr contract. ting the low-end market below $200 are local smartphone makers such as , Huawaei and Micromax.The mid-range handsets neither offer high-end ftures nor undercut the current smartphone average selling price of $375 and below. All of which sets the stage for“an explosive cocktail”as we all await ’s announcement of an inexpensive iPhone, per Forbes.

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