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iPhone imports to Russia in the first half of the year amounted to 1.1 million units, which is 15% higher than the same period in 2022, but 2 times lower than in 2021. This is evidenced by the data of the GS Group analytical center, which takes into account official customs statistics for the first half of 2023. Vedomosti got acquainted with the report.

Apple stopped official sales of equipment in Russia in March 2022, and at the end of April of the same year stopped providing technical support to users. In this regard, in April 2022, the import of devices of all brands that left Russia, including Apple, Samsung and Huawei, completely stopped, and since May it has resumed in the format of parallel imports.

According to the results of the first six months of 2023, the number of iPhones imported into Russia turned out to be 1 million less than in the six months of 2021. The share of Apple smartphones in imports decreased to 9% in unit terms, which is approximately comparable to the Chinese brands Honor (7.9%), Infinix (8.2%) and Tecno (10.4%). 

Xiaomi (27.9%), Samsung (12.7%) and Realmi (12.1%) smartphones were imported to Russia the most during this period. Although Apple is still the leader in terms of imports in monetary terms (34%), it is followed by Xiaomi (19%) and Samsung (16%).

Analysts have recorded an increase in smartphone prices in the first half of 2023 

The iPhone was sold for the first six months by 18% in pieces and 10% less in money than a year earlier, says Andrey Gubanov, CEO of the MTS retail chain. Sales amounted to 1.3 million devices for a total of 105.7 billion rubles. "Compared to the same period in 2021, we are recording a decrease in sales by almost 40% in pieces and by 28% in money," he added. According to Gubanov, this is due to the redistribution of buyers' interest towards Chinese brands. According to MTS, since 2021, Apple's share in the Russian smartphone market has fallen from 16 to 9% in unit terms and from 46 to 35% in monetary terms.

In the Beeline network in the first half of 2023, compared with the first half of 2022, iPhone sales fell by 7% in money and by 15% in pieces. GS Group's conclusions are based on the fact that in 2022 the market was still selling the stocks of goods that had been accumulated, the representative of the operator explained.

According to the results of the first half of 2023, Apple took the 4th place in unit sales, but retained its leading position in monetary terms, a representative of M.Video-Eldorado confirmed. The most popular series is the iPhone 14 line, and the majority of sales are on the Pro models. 

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In the first half of 2023, iPhone sales on Ozon decreased by 5 percentage points to 6% of the total number of devices sold, a company representative said. The marketplace attributes this to a reduction in Apple's service support and marketing activity, as well as restrictions on the use of certain functions and applications. At the same time, the average price of an Apple smartphone has decreased by 3%, compared with the same period last year, and is about 60,000 rubles, said the representative of the online platform. The most popular models on Ozon were iPhone 11, iPhone 12 and iPhone X.

GS Group analysts also recorded a decrease in the average cost of the iPhone. There was an excess of iPhones in Russia due to the import of devices without the control of an official distributor, the study says: too many entrepreneurs decided to do this, which, in turn, led to a decrease in prices.

To date, Apple "occupies a relatively stable market share in the range of 8-9%," says Artur Makhlayuk, a business analyst at the IT holding company F+ tech-Marvel, this is facilitated by an established supply system for parallel imports, as well as relatively high availability of products due to the large stock formed in the country. Telecom Daily CEO Denis Kuskov believes that the company's market share has already dropped to 7%.

"At the beginning of 2023, Russian consumers took into account that the dollar would no longer be valued at 53 rubles, as it was in the summer of 2022, and taking into account the complexity of a full-scale transition to Android, as well as the fact that used iPhones would not fall in price, they decided to purchase Apple smartphones before the sharp growth began prices in Russia," the editor–in-chief of Ferra.ru Evgeny Kharitonov told.

In early autumn, after the presentation of the iPhone 15 line, which is due to take place on September 7, the demand for iPhone 14 and 14 Pro will grow, but the iPhone 14 Pro Max will begin to gain popularity in the winter of 2024 – by then the new iPhone 15 Ultra will be available for sale in Russia, and the 14 Pro Max will lose the status of a premium smartphone and it will fall in price, Kharitonov predicts.

The growth of demand for the iPhone is also expected in the retailer re:Store. "This happens traditionally – someone is waiting for new items and necessarily buys a new model, and someone does not find the update they need in the new model and acquires the last one, the price of which usually becomes lower," the press service of re:Store explained. 

According to Makhlayuk, the demand for the iPhone will be formed primarily by the price and availability of services: the stable loyal audience of the brand existing in Russia will continue to choose Apple equipment. However, if payments in the iOS ecosystem are blocked, and applications continue to be deleted, even the most loyal adherents will turn away from Apple, Fintech Lab accelerator analyst Sergey Villanov summed up.

The average price of smartphones in Russia at retail has increased to about 25,000 rubles. (by 32%). This is evidenced by the data of the GS Group analytical center for the first half of 2023 compared to the first half of 2022. The trend was confirmed to Vedomosti by interlocutors in three telecom companies that are engaged in retail.

Average prices are rising primarily for Apple, Samsung, Realme and Xiaomi products, says Alexander Surkov, head of the GS Group analytical center. "The 14th iPhone accounted for half of Apple's total imports to Russia during this period. And the new generation of Apple is always more expensive than the previous one," he argues. – Samsung suppliers import more expensive models, because the marginality of budget gadgets is much lower."

In addition, according to Surkov, the Chinese brands Realme, Xiaomi, Infinix are gradually trying to fill the niche of the departed Samsung models and supply smartphones of "medium and high price segments" to the Russian market. And budget models fade into the background, the expert explains.

Market growth in the first half of the year by 42% (314 billion rubles) year-on-year, also recorded by the center's analysts, is associated with the effect of a low base. 

In the first half of 2022, turnover fell by 34% in monetary terms, according to the GS Group report.

Apple brand supplies account for 34% of the entire market, Xiaomi – 19%, Samsung - 16%. This is followed by Realme, Huawei, Honor and Techno, whose shares gradually decrease from 7 to 4% and in total gain another 22%. Other brands account for less than 9%, according to the statistics of the analytical center.

What the experts say

Now most users prefer options in the range of 18,000-25,000 rubles, says Fintech Lab accelerator analyst Sergey Vilyanov. In August 2023, compared with January, the average cost of a smartphone increased by 5.6% from 23,400 to 24,700 rubles, the business analyst of the IT holding "F+ tech | Marvel" Artur Makhlayuk.

According to the estimates of Telecom Daily CEO Denis Kuskov, the average price of a smartphone is about 22,000 rubles, it has increased, but only by 5-10% in the first half of 2023 compared to the first half of 2022.

From the second half of 2022 in smartphones of the middle class (up to 40,000 rubles) the price increase has reached 30%, but in budget smartphones (up to 20,000 rubles) did not exceed 20%, says the editor-in-chief Ferra.ru Evgeny Kharitonov. Chinese flagship smartphones Xiaomi, Readme, Oppo and Vivo were delivered to Russia in small batches and have historically been expensive. Prices for Xiaomi smartphones have increased by an average of 15-20%.

In addition to the ruble exchange rate, the pricing of smartphones was influenced by the fact that a significant part of the devices in the first half of 2022 were purchased in advance, taking into account the marketing campaigns of manufacturers, and in the first half of 2023 all smartphones were already purchased at full price, says Villanov. In the middle and upper price ranges, both the price increase by the manufacturers themselves, in particular, due to the increase in prices for components, and local reasons - the growth of the dollar, the rise in the cost of logistics, the lack of marketing support for the manufacturer.

Mikhail Burmistrov, CEO of Infoline Analytics, calls the cost of warranty service one of the factors affecting prices. "Now the same Samsung and Apple have it embedded in the retail price, and it is carried out directly by the retailer itself," he explains. In addition, Chinese players, who are the main beneficiaries of the withdrawal of international companies from the market, are actively increasing their market share and developing those models that are most interesting to them, moving into a high price segment, Burmistrov concluded.

What retailers say

In January – July 2023, Xiaomi Redmi 9A, Xiaomi Redmi A1+, Tecno Spark 8C, Xiaomi Redmi 10C, Apple iPhone 13 smartphones became the most popular in quantitative terms at M.video-Eldorado (the retailer does not disclose absolute figures). In monetary terms, the best-selling models were iPhone 14 ProMax, iPhone 13, iPhone 14 Pro, iPhone 14 ProMax, iPhone 14. M.video-Eldorado does not disclose the dynamics.

12.4 million units smartphones were imported to Russia in the first half of 2023, 26% more than in the first half of 2022, according to GS Group

At Ozon, the Tecno Spark 8C smartphone and three Redmi models – 9A, A1 Plus, 10C - are among the leaders in unit sales. Since May, prices for the Tecno smartphone have increased by 4%, for the most popular Redmi smartphones – in the range of 11-22%, while the A1 Plus smartphone, on the contrary, has lost 6% in value.

In the first half of 2023, sales of smartphones on Wildberries increased by 259% year-on-year (in units), and in July demand for them increased by 56%, a representative of the site said, but did not disclose the dynamics. The most popular models of Realme, Xiaomi, Infinix, Oppo, POCO.cost up to 12,000 - 15,000 rubles. 

Source: https://www.vedomosti.ru/technology/articles/2023/08/29/992506-import-iphone-nachal-vosstanavlivatsya?utm_campaign=newspaper_30_8_2023&utm_medium=email&utm_source=vedomosti ; https://www.vedomosti.ru/technology/articles/2023/08/28/992124-analitiki-zafiksirovali-rost-tsen-na-smartfoni