Belated Sales Growth

Some local industry insiders say that sales of Samsung Galaxy S7 and LG G5 might have adverse repercussions when the iPhone SE at a low price is released in the domestic market.
Some local industry insiders say that sales of Samsung Galaxy S7 and LG G5 might have adverse repercussions when the iPhone SE at a low price is released in the domestic market.

 

According to industry sources on Apr. 12, Apple's new 4-inch iPhone SE is belatedly in short supply in some of its initial launch countries.

Earlier, the iPhone SE snagged just a 0.1 percent share of all iPhones during its first official weekend of sales. It is the lowest figure in the last five years compared to its predecessors’ market share in the first weekend of sales. Starting from last week, however, the delivery period of the iPhone SE at Apple’s official website and offline sales outlets has been extending, and the delivery of some models are delayed for up to three weeks.

As the iPhone SE models are belatedly getting popular, market experts are raising their sales forecasts. Forbes said the demand of the iPhones in the second quarter would amount to 62.9 million units, citing the latest data from Steve Milunovich, UBS' Apple analyst. The figure is up over 10 million units from 50 to 52 million the Wall Street was projecting before.

Since Apple has been known for its shockingly high customer loyalty and retention, customers would flock to buy the iPhones right after the release. However, its sales are gradually increasing a little later, showing a different sales pattern.

An official from the industry said, “The reason why the iPhone SE sees the different purchasing pattern from other iPhones is that its demand has expanded to not only loyal customers but also consumers who used to use phones with the Android OS. More and more consumers want to try a new budget iPhone.”

In fact, Slice Intelligence said that 16 percent of consumers who purchase the iPhone SE during the first weekend of pre-order sales were previously Android users. The figure of the iPhone 6S buyers stood at 10 percent.

As one of the third wave of launch countries, Korea will begin selling the iPhone SE within Apr. Currently, the domestic smartphone market is dominated by Samsung Galaxy S7 and LG G5, greeting the golden age of premium phones. But, some industry insiders say that sales of the Samsung Galaxy S7 and the LG G5 might be adversely affected when the iPhone SE at a low price is released in the domestic market.    

The iPhone SE, Apple's cheapest ever new smartphone, starts at US$399 (462,000 won) with 16GB of storage and maxes out at US$499 (578,000 won) with 64GB. These are about half the cost of previous iPhones. The iPhone SE has similar design and specs with its predecessors, improving the cost effectiveness. 

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