Apple is Inadvertently Putting Pressure on Other Smartphone Makers

Short Story:

            With Apple’s announcement of their decision Tuesday to pull out of Russia, CCS Insight Chief Analyst Ben Wood told CNBC this “absolutely” puts pressure on rival firms like Samsung, and this may lead Chinese firms to push deeper into Russia. However, this isn’t going to put strain on Apple in any way and may be a cheap shot at presenting relevant to the situation.

Long Story:

            Apple announced their decision Tuesday to pull out ok Russia following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. According to cnbc CCS Insight Chief Analyst Ben Woods told them that “It is important that they’ve made a statement,… They’re leading from the front on it,” adding that some of Apple’s rivals sell significant volumes into Russia. Apple also explained that it has removes Russian state-controlled news outlets from its App Store in countries around the world except for Russia. Which seems like a move for show than anything else, but the fact of the matter is they’re trying and this puts pressure on other companies to do the same. 

            It is estimated that roughly 15% of Russian smartphones on the market are apple, according to Counterpoint Research, which equates to around 32million IPhones in the country last year.

            Anshel Sag, principal analyst at Moor Insights and Strategy told CNBC that Apple’s move “could force others to follow suit” and explained that this won’t have a tremendous effect on Apple as “Their business is so big that it’s very resilient,… For them to lose that revenue is not going to have a catastrophic impact on the business.” Tech analyst and investor Benedict Evans said that financial sanctions and currency volatility may have also made it difficult for Apple to sell its products in Russia. “The ruble fell 30% yesterday [on Tuesday], so it’s not clear what price they need to charge for an iPhone, and the banking sanctions make it hard or impossible to transfer cash from sales there out of the country,” Evans told CNBC. “So regardless of any politics, there are big practical difficulties for anyone importing goods into Russia right now.”

            “it’s always easier to stand on your principles when it’s not 20% of your revenue and most of your manufacturing.”

With that point it is viable that China is to swoop in and take over this market. “The Chinese are well established [in Russia] and trade links appear to remain open,” Wood said.     “It could be an opportunity.”