At least three merchants have complained of a lack of the top-end Pro and Pro Max versions as Apple’s iPhone 15 series sales in India got off to a great start on Friday.
“The new iPhone 15 and 15 Plus have had great first-day sales. However, because supplies of the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max are now low, we haven’t been able to fully capitalize on the widespread demand, said a multi-brand phone vendor from Kolkata who asked to remain anonymous.
Delhi and Mumbai both reported experiencing similar shortages. Sales of the iPhone 15 series were “better than last year’s” on the first day, according to a significant multi-brand shop in Delhi, but the Pro versions rapidly ran out of stock.
Following the release of the iPhone 14 last year, there were few of the top models available in November and December, which resulted in lengthy lines. The supply chain is no longer affected by the covid-19 epidemic that occurred in China’s iPhone manufacturers, which caused the prior scarcity.
Retailers, however, blamed low availability for the iPhone Pro stock-outs rather than high demand. Demand for the most expensive iPhones, which may cost up to $2 lakh, is still far smaller than it is for iPhones in general.
According to the store located in Kolkata, “Demand for the iPhone 15 Pro series is significantly lower than the demand for the standard iPhone 15 models—for every 10 Pro iPhones sold, we’re seeing orders for at least 80 standard models.”
This is consistent with India’s historically high demand for the iPhone Pro models. The Pro versions normally make around 15% of all iPhone sales in India, according to statistics from industry analyst International statistics Corp. (IDC) India, and this year is no exception.
The store did note, though, that this year, Apple had been more aggressive regarding supply. The second order for supplies is scheduled to be authorized today, and Apple is anticipated to approve and process the third batch by Monday. Our second and third batches of orders are currently in the works. This used to take close to 10 days for each batch of orders up until last year,” he added.
However, the overall demand, according to Manish Khatri, a partner at Mumbai-based shop Mahesh Telecom, remains muted. “Supplies of the Pro iPhones are low, which results in the devices now being out of stock. But this isn’t the result of greater demand than anticipated. Before we notice a rise in demand from customers, more people are enquiring about Apple’s earlier iPhone series and are likely to wait until the launch of holiday discounts, according to Khatri.
Apple didn’t respond to a question addressed by email. Analysts predict that this year, the business will export more than 9 million iPhones to India, setting a new record. Even though this still represents around a third of market leader Samsung’s total sales, it is anticipated that this could enable Apple perhaps overtake Samsung this year in terms of revenue generated by the smartphone industry in India.
Apple’s high average selling price (ASP) of its smartphones, which surpass 80,000 per unit sold, as opposed to an industry average of 20,000 per unit, is anticipated to be the main driver of its revenue market share. Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple Inc., claimed on August 4 that the business had achieved “strong double digits” growth in order to post record sales in India for the June quarter. “During the quarter, we also opened our first two retail outlets. In spite of the fact that it is still early, they are now outperforming our expectations, according to Cook.
