As Apple iPhone popularity continues to grow in emerging markets, this could potentially pose a threat to the iPhone price.
The iPhone, designed for elite markets, is often unaffordable for the middle and lower tier of the market. Launch prices are often sky-high.
The reality is that cheap iPhones are difficult to find. The phones are often priced beyond the means of many consumers.
iPhone sales have slowed in developed countries, with heavy saturation in many of the mature smartphone markets. The iPhone brand lags behind in regions like China, India, South America, Africa and the Middle East.
These regions are dominated by Android.
On the African continent, which has huge potential for the brand, Apple is competing with Samsung, a brand that dominates the mid-range smartphone market.
In the Chinese market, which is the world’s largest smartphone market, Apple commands only about 5% market share.
So can we expect cheap iPhones any time soon?
The introduction of the plastic-covered iPhone 5C was designed to help Apple target customers in emerging economies.
It would seem that Apple has realised that it needs to do something to stay ahead of the pack in a saturated smartphone market.
The growing African middle-class presents a number of opportunities for cheap iPhones. This market often drives consumer trends. Teenagers have increasing power on household spending and Apple looks set to take a slice of the pie.
The brand wants a bigger piece of the multi-billion smartphone dollar industry on the African continent which is currently dominated by Korean giants Samsung. The opening of Apple’s first African office in South Africa follows studies that have shown that iPhone sales skyrocketed on the continent in 2015. The expansion of the LTE smartphone sector is also a factor.
Apple’s foray into the mid-range sector of the market has seen it introducing the SE version, which is currently considered too expensive for developing countries.
Unless Apple does some thorough research into developing markets, and develops a solid plan for market penetration while keeping a sense of the brand’s exclusivity, it may be a while before we see cheap iPhones.