Despite the high price, iPhone in Russia bought quite willingly. Year by year, their sales only grew, and not the cheapest models, but mostly flagship ones, were especially popular. Consumers simply knew what they were paying so much for and were ready for it. Recognizable design, stable software operation, high-quality software, wide functionality and its own ecosystem did their job. People didn’t even hesitate to buy iPhone in installments or a loan, because they knew that they simply couldn’t find better for the money. But this spring, many have changed their view of the iPhone.
April 2022 iPhone sales in Russia for the first time in a long time, they began to decline, as a result of which Apple’s share in the local market decreased from more than 16% to 10.3%, throwing the company from third place in the overall standings to fourth. This is reported by Kommersant, citing sources among Russian retailers.
The most popular smartphones in Russia
Apple lost not only in unit sales, but also in money. If earlier smartphones brought her 44%, now this figure has fallen to 31%. This greatly undermined the position of the American company, and now the top three is closed by the Chinese Realme with a natural share of 11.2%, which has increased sales by almost 3 times in just a year.
And here is what the top five leaders of the Russian market look like:
- Samsung – 26%
- Xiaomi – 20%
- Realme – 11.2%
- Apple – 10.3%
- Honor – 5.7%
April as a whole was not the most favorable month for smartphones. Over the previous 30 days, the cell phone market has fallen both in units and in money. Consumers simply stopped buying expensive devices, relying on inexpensive models. Not least, this was influenced by the refusal of many from the iPhone.
Despite the fact that the iPhone is still present in Russian retail, and at quite adequate prices, many are in no hurry to buy them. The reasons for this, as you understand, are more than one:
- First, people still fear that Apple might block their smartphones remotely;
- Secondly, Apple has already announced the stop of after-sales service, which means that it may refuse it again;
- Thirdly, from App Store many popular applications disappeared, including banking clients in demand among Russians;
- Fourth, Apple has disabled Apple Payand for many, the payment service was a key function for which the company’s devices were bought;
- Fifth, Apple was blocked payments in the App Store from Russian cards, Qiwi and phone numbers belonging to some operators.
Should I buy an iPhone in 2022
As a result of clearly unfriendly actions on the part of Apple, the iPhone turned into a semi-working device in Russia, which it was not even at the end of the 2000s. If earlier some restrictions could be fixed with a jailbreak, now this will not help either. After all, it is impossible to force Apple to re-conclude an agreement with NSPK on the provision of processing services for Apple Pay works.
From this point of view Android smartphones – especially Chinese – look as attractive as possible. They are significantly cheaper than the iPhone, and have almost no restrictions. Although Huawei recently agreed to comply with US sanctions and removed applications of Russian banks from AppGallery, objectively not the functionality of the brand’s smartphones is not affected.
All Android smartphones still allow you to install applications as APK without any restrictions, even if they are not in any directory, support contactless payment through Mir Pay and do not limit users in the choice of services that are needed to ensure stable operation. For example, on Android, you can choose any cloud storage as standard, but not on iOS.
A couple of months ago, it was hard to believe, but iPhones have really become toxic smartphones. They are too expensive, and they no longer provide the same level of convenience as before. Therefore, I personally would not buy them consciously now – even taking into account a noticeable decrease in the retail price. Of course, I will not throw away my iPhone 12, but will continue to use it. But I would not upgrade to a newer model. Better, in my opinion buy something on android.
