iPhone X hit by sluggish sales in Korea

By Kang Seung-woo

Apple’s highly hyped iPhone X is struggling to appeal to local consumers amid lackluster sales in the land of its devotees.

According to the mobile industry, Wednesday, the California-based tech giant has sold 400,000 of its latest flagship devices over the last two months.

Apple’s 10th-anniversary smartphone made its debut with much fanfare in Korea on Nov. 24 -- three weeks later than in the first batch of select countries, including the United States, Japan and China.

The phone got off to a solid start as its sales topped 100,000 over the first two days of sales through the nation’s three wireless providers, as evidenced by the first to get hands on the new iPhone who had to wait outside seven days.

However, entering the second week of its launch, its sales slowed sharply, with 5,000 sold per day, and the recent pace settled at between 2,000 and 3,000.

Meanwhile, Samsung Electronics’ two premium smartphones _ the Galaxy S8 and Note 8 -- are still steady sellers, with 5,000 to 6,000 of the S8 and 10,000 of the Note 8 sold daily. Both smartphones hit shelves last year.

The local industry attributes the iPhone X’s unexpected “setback” to its high prices. The 64GB model costs 1.3 million won ($1,200) and the 256GB handset sells for 1.5 million won, becoming Apple’s most expensive handset ever.

In addition, its notch design and the recent “batterygate” scandal are also blamed for the poor performance.

A notch at the top of the screen housing its sensors prevents the device from being a true bezel-less phone -- a recent fad in the smartphone industry thanks to growing love for large-screen phones.

The battery scandal is about Apple intentionally slowing down a range of older iPhones to extend battery life without prior notice. Many critics cast suspicion the software tweak was designed to get iPhone users to upgrade to new phones.

The iPhone X’s sluggish sales came as Apple is expected to retire the device this summer.

“We revise down the first quarter and the second quarter of 2018 shipments of the iPhone X to 18 million and 13 million, respectively, lower than market consensus of 20 to 30 million and 15 to 20 million,” KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said.

“We expect the iPhone X will go to end of life (EOL) around mid-2018 and that total life cycle shipments will be around 62 million, lower than our previous forecast of 80 million.”

According to industry tracker Consumer Intelligence Research Partners, the iPhone X accounted for 20 percent of total U.S. iPhone sales in the fourth quarter of 2017, compared with the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus taking up a consolidated 41 percent.