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Unusual: Apple records a spot in Buenos Aires but cannot bring its iPhones to the country

2023-03-20T20:33:00.810Z


The brand launched a commercial filmed in the microcenter. Due to the stocks, imports of their cell phones fell 91%.


Argentina, for Apple, is a market with two faces.

On the one hand, the manzanita brand

has just released a new advertising spot

with a futuristic script shot in the heart of downtown Buenos Aires.

But on the other, the company of the bitten apple has

enormous difficulties to legally enter the country its famous iPhone

.

In the first two months of the year, its official distributors were able to import just 742 pieces of equipment, compared to 8,000 in the same period of the previous year, which represents a 91% drop.

Both facets, for fans of the brand, largely reflect the current economic reality.

Last week,

Apple released a promotional video for the latest version of the AirPods Pro

, its famous wireless headphones, which allow you

to adjust the audio to suit each user.

It also has a noise cancellation system (surround sound), which prevents the filtration of external noise and improves listening quality.

Hence the choice of downtown Buenos Aires to make the video, in theory,

one of the noisiest areas of the city

.

Apple, on the other hand, is considered an aspirational brand throughout the world and also in Argentina.

Especially the iPhone, the star cell phone of the company founded by Steve Jobs, which is

facing the combined effects of the stocks, the rate hike and the shortage of dollars

.

As soon as it was released, the commercial went viral on social media.

Many users expressed their pride in choosing the City as the setting to spread the benefits of AirPods.

Between January and February, imports of iPhones 14 (the latest version was launched in September 2022)

collapsed 90.7%

compared to the same two-month period of the previous year, according to a report by the consultancy MRT (Market, Research & Technology). ).

The ranking of the category is led by the Korean Samsung and Motorola (of the Chinese group Lenovo), which assemble their cell phones in Tierra del Fuego in alliance with Mirgor and Newsan, respectively.

The two brands have concentrated more than 90% of cell phone sales

in the country for several years.

Samsung and Apple are the two largest manufacturers in the world.

Argentina is a market in which around 10 million units are shipped annually, despite the crisis, high inflation and the rise in consumer credit. 

Due to company policy, Apple never agreed to produce locally.

But it delegated the representation of the brand to 4 official distributors

: Mac Station, iPoint (from the Etercor Fuegian group), One Click and Maxim, which directly import their entire line of products, including iMac computers, iPad tablets, and also AirPods.

iPhones always had a testimonial presence in the country, with or without stocks.

The main reason is its high cost compared to other markets.

For example,

the iPhone 14 Pro Max

(the top-of-the-range model), with 256 Gb of storage

costs $1,167,924, or the equivalent of US$3,031 at the blue price

.

In the United States, the same device with

the same configuration is available for US$ 1,375, less than half.

The trap complicates other major brands, such as the Chinese giant Xiaomi.

The iPhone, in any case, never managed to take off in Argentina since they were launched for the first time, in 2007. "In addition to the difficulties to import, there is the requirement to finance the 180-day payment (the cost of coverage) and the rise in rates, which prevents selling in installments," grumbled a source in the sector.

This despite the appeal that Apple has for many consumers, who access the products unofficially.

"Those who use iPhone will still buy version 14, but through other channels

," they point out.

This is through online sales platforms, on tourist trips abroad or through "ant smuggling" maneuvers, which are very difficult to detect.

look too

Apple released a commercial recorded in Buenos Aires: AirPods Pro 2

look too

Notebooks: at what price did the premium models go after the increase in import tax?

Source: clarin

All business articles on 2023-03-20

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