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Apple is handing Samsung and Xiaomi the win in India because it doesn’t get the market
August 16, 2025
Apple is said to have lost three key members of staff in India in the past weeks as it grapples with the Indian market. According toBloomberg, citing people familiar with the matter, Apple lost its “head of telecom carrier sales,” “head of commercial channels and mid-market business,” and its “its national sales and distribution chief,” for the region.
The report also suggests Apple sold fewer than a million iPhones in India in the first half of 2018, whileother estimatessuggest it shipped 16 million iPhones in the U.S. in Q1 2018 alone. Indiareportedlyovertook the U.S. in 2017 to become the world’s second-largest smartphone market in 2017, so Apple’s poor performance in the region is significant.
Bloomberg’s sources indicated Apple has had problems making business relationships with local carriers, and that it had “had difficulties understanding the country, leaving the sales team direction-less.” Apple is now said to be in the process of restructuring its India sales team to improve its prospects.
Apple’s biggest smartphone rivals, both globally and in India, are Xiaomi and Samsung — manufacturers which have prospered in India thanks to sales of lower-tier hardware. Apple relies on sales of its previous generation flagships in India, but high import taxes are believed to be harming its chances of success; Apple recently startediPhone 6S productionin a new India factory, which may help reduce those expenses in the near future.
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