Apple pips Micromax to become second largest smartphone maker

Indian unit of Apple Inc has become the country’s second-largest smartphone maker by revenue in the fiscal year to March 2016 piping the largest home-grown brand Micromax and touching almost Rs 10,000-crore sales milestone in less than a decade of its operations.

As per its balance sheet with the Registrar of Companies filed late Wednesday, Apple India sales grew 54% to Rs 9,997.1 crore during FY16 compared to Rs 6,472.89 crore a year ago, while net profit rose 21% to Rs 294 crore as the company widened its retail network into smaller cities and lowered prices by allowing distributors decide on the final selling price.

In contrast, Micromax Informatics sales in 2015-16 were Rs 9,825.46 dipping by 6% unable to compete with the Chinese handset competition.

The country’s largest handset maker Samsung India’s sales touched Rs 47,001.4 crore of which around 70% (or 32,900 crore) is estimated to be generated from the handset business.

Apple has been growing sales in India largely with the older iPhone models by cutting their prices. Hence, the company saw a huge potential with company-certified refurbished iPhones which could have been attractively priced. But with the government turning this proposal down, Apple efforts will now progressively focus on the upgradation of the existing user base to the latest models which will lead to faster revenue growth, a senior industry official said.

 

SOURCE: PTI