[Ayesh]

I think Apple is pretty late at this point. Xiaomi and Oppo have figured out the distribution, localization, and a sizeable user base already there, and a decent smart phone now costs $150-200. They are quite good phones and from what I understand, price is the biggest driver for sales.

[itissid]

But apple is a luxury brand. You can't say that with Xiaomi or Oppo. With luxury brand the price is not a bug but a feature for the people that swear by them.

And Rich people don't even care about the money. the 50-100 million rich people in india are least bothered about the price tag as long as it signifies luxury and status.

[jpatokal]

Xiaomi is a luxury brand in the Chinese market.

And rich by Indian standards doesn't mean they can afford to spend over $1000 on an iPhone: in India, a top 1% household earns only about $1000/month.

[plibither8]

Apple will mostly rely on its loyal customer base (at least in India) who will support and buy only Apple products, which of course primarily means the iPhone. Plus, if the prices do in fact drop once they start manufacturing in India, I'm sure there will be many more XYZ-Chinese-company to Apple conversions.