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Comment by HenryTheHorse | Hacker News Reader

Some anecdata based on my travels in the subcontinent in the past few years:

1. While younger consumers know about Apple (and know that it is a "superior" brand), the native Apple ecosystem has little meaning for Indian consumers. They are not on iTunes or iMessages or FaceTime. They don't have a cultural relationship with a Mac (or an iPod).

2. Google/Android got there first (2008). Xiaomi, Samsung have benefited from it.

3. The network (and its accompanying data plan) is the differentiator, not the hardware. Look how Reliance Jio exploded.

4. The wealthy/upwardly mobile love their iPhones.

5. There's a HUGE grey market for phones in India. There's also a big repair market. Both these factors probably affect new handset sales?

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As a Indian who owned the first iPhone along with a Macbook and has been using a iPhone 6S with MBP for last 2 years I have a few points to add..

1. Its difficult for the average phone user to be convinced to spend money on a device that would cost considerably less if purchased outside the country. For example, someone was telling me (I haven't personally validated) that its cheaper to take a flight to Bangkok, Thailand and pickup a Macbook Pro 15' 2018 and get it back than buy it in a local store. The same thing holds true for iPhones as well. A lot of people get phones from friends / family traveling to other countries as its cheaper to buy there.

2. Android phones provide a lot of options at a variety of price points. The choice is ultimately the reason most people go the Android route. In case of Apple, only the iPhone SE is priced in a reasonable way (as the article points).

3. You don't get the same experience buying a iPhone as other countries as Apple does not have flagship Apple stores. The sales happen through re-sellers. That could be a factor as well.

4. Broadly expanding to other Apple products, the clear lack of choice puts people off. For example, I really want to buy the Macbook 12' but with a upgraded 16 GB RAM. But that option is not available on the online store or with the reseller.

> (and know that it is a "superior" brand)

Does this mean that people who buy e.g. Samsungs do so mainly because they cannot afford iPhones?

(I know that I didn't, but that doesn't count.)

I don't live in India, but that's basically what I gathered from the massive market research I conducted with a few friends :)

Then again, I believe the top-end Samsung and iPhones are comparable in price here in the US?

Not making a generalization but I know many many guys who are rich and bought iPhone but they just disliked and went back to android for one basic reason - they love the android UI and ecosystem more.

For example, one guy said he ditched iphone because he can't use truecaller on it. Another one just didn't like the UI. Yet another one is tired of its rather closed ecosystem.

> 5. There's a HUGE grey market for phones in India.

I don't think this it true anymore. Brand name Android flagships are available for $150-$200. On the lower end, Jio along with data plan for one year costs $50. There is no price point for Grey market anymore.

I should correct my earlier statement: there appears to be a huge "used-phone" market in India. Purely my observation that there seemed to be a lot more older phones in circulation (both Android and Apple).

> a huge "used-phone" market in India

Nope. Not anymore. It was in early days of iPhone coming to India. Now users just go for a new iPhone or an excellent Android phone usually at a much lower price.

#1 - very good point. Not having a cultural relationship with a Mac/iPod makes it difficult to appreciate iPhones and their non-functional aspects.

6. The cost is prohibitively expensive, except for the elite top earning buyers.

That's the key issue.

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