This article covers many aspects like Maps, Dual Sims, Price etc but leaves out two glaring issues: Language and Apple Store. iOS is way far behind Android in

This article covers many aspects like Maps, Dual Sims, Price etc but leaves out two glaring issues: Language and Apple Store. iOS is way far behind Android in terms of supporting different keyboard dictionaries and transliteration support for many different Indian languages and scripts. This has certainly improved with iOS 11, and gets a little better with iOS 12, but it is still not enough. Siri works only in English, so this is just not attractive enough for most Indians (Alexa is doing way better in this aspect, in India). App Store shows apps based in India as a region, and not by language setting. This problem is very specific to India, since there aren't many regions supported by iOS which contain so many different languages with different scripts. Add to that, the lack of focus on localization for most of the iOS apps, the target audience ends up being the tiny sliver An another issue with iPhone sales in India: New iPhones are not sold in India the same day they are released in the US. So many of those who can afford to pay a premium, will get one from a cousin/friend/colleague who is travelling from the US. Add to that, if this person returning to India is in Delaware area, then the tax savings can be significant. So the die hard iPhone fans and those who want to be seen with the latest iPhones, will have one even before the iPhone is officially launched in India. This certainly dents the numbers in the first quarter after the iPhones are released in India. With no Apple Store presence, it just is not as easy to sell iPhones as it is in the countries which have Apple Stores. If Apple and India figure out whatever local sourcing regulations w.r.t FDI are involved, Apple's primary source of hypnotizing it's customers with wow, can have a presence in India. IMO, Apple has a great potential if they can come up with * Excellent Indian language support, * usable Maps (including places and POI info), * Siri in India languages, * Localized App Store with encouragement for apps that are highly localized for India * At least 4 - 6 Apple Stores to start with (right now it is zero) Now Apple can take its own sweet time to figure out its strategy, but Samsung is not waiting. Having lost its lead to chines phone makers (oppo, vivo, xiaomi, huawei), they have started working on the largest mobile device manufacturing unit in India that’ll build even the latest Samsung phones (unlike Apple building a 3 yield phone). This will give Samsung unprecedented advantage over Apple in terms of pricing due to favorable tax rates for local manufacturing. Price is certainly a hurdle for anyone looking to get 80-90% of the market. But for Apple, it is leaving money on the table by not addressing the points I have mentioned.