Yuni Pulungan, a 28-year-old project manager at a nonprofit in Jakarta, always thought of iPhones as luxury devices — too expensive to ever consider seriously. But when the Android phone she had used since 2019 ran out of storage and the camera started to degrade, she began to mull switching to a higher-quality phone, one she’d be able to enjoy and use for years to come.
In April, after nearly a year of meticulous research and teetering back and forth, Pulungan finally cracked and bought an iPhone 13. She hasn’t looked back. “The phone is durable and the camera doesn’t shake when recording videos,” she told Rest of World . “The audio is also good.” The sting of the high cost — $798, more than double the average monthly salary in urban Indonesia — was made much less painful with a cashback deal from the e-commerce site she bought it from.
Pulungan is not alone in her appreciation for the iPhone. According to research agency Counterpoint , Apple’s iPhone shipments to Southeast Asia increased by 18% in the first three months of 2023 compared to the same period last year. In Indonesia and Vietnam especially, iPhone demand was strong, even as smartphones reached saturation point elsewhere across Southeast Asia.
Young professionals who had switched from Android to iOS in the past 12 months told Rest of World they were wooed by the phone’s superb camera and build, and its intuitive operating system. They said they would continue to buy iPhones as long as the quality of the brand held.
Historically, Apple has struggled in Southeast Asia. In Indonesia — the fourth-largest country in the world — Chinese companies like Oppo, Vivo, Xiaomi, and Realme have dominated smartphone sales , with high-end Android phones going for as little as $500. Chinese brands have done a much more effective job than Apple at localizing their marketing, as well as creating goodwill with local communities through job creation and disaster relief initiatives.
But Apple has been making strides in Indonesia on the strength of its product quality and the rising wealth of Southeast Asia as a whole, even through the uncertainty of the pandemic. Glen Cordoza, senior analyst at Counterpoint, told Rest of World Apple’s popularity in the region was boosted by the iPhone 13 and 14, and a consumer perception that Apple produces high-quality products.
“A lot of consumers in the emerging economy start with lower-budget phones. But as they progress [economically], many consumers … purchase iOS because they have a certain status. You see this in many other countries,” he said.
In Indonesia, Apple’s customers tend to be urban workers looking for a clean and practical user experience, security, and the ease of being part of the wider Apple ecosystem, the company’s retail staff in Jakarta told Rest of World . (Apple Southeast Asia did not respond to requests for comment.)
Indonesia has both a fast-growing middle class, and a prominent ultra-wealthy class. The owner of an iPhone reseller store in Jakarta, who requested anonymity as he didn’t have permission from Apple to speak to the press, told Rest of World that as soon as the iPhone 14 came out, parents approached him to buy the phone for their high school kids. They wanted the latest version possible, they told him, so their children could have a more comfortable experience when using the phone for gaming and social media.
Le Xuan Chiew, Singapore-based analyst at technology research firm Canalys , told Rest of World the region’s youthful population is also helping Apple in the region.
“The middle class, which Apple traditionally targets, are grown-up consumers. Now [Apple] targets more Gen Z, more young people. In terms of target group, channel, there’s a lot of opportunity,” said Chiew.
Apple has just three physical locations across the region: in Singapore, Thailand, and Malaysia. But the company is expanding in other ways.
In May, Apple launched its first official online store in Vietnam. In March, Indonesian electronics brand Erajaya, also a major licensed reseller of Apple products in the country, opened a Premium Partner-level store in Jakarta — which offers a customer experience close to that of the official Apple Store. (Erajaya runs a chain called iBox, which echoes the atmosphere and service of an Apple Store and is its closest equivalent in the country.)
Counterpoint’s report captures a turbulent economic period in Southeast Asia. But Apple had already been working on ways to sell to an audience that had premium tastes without being necessarily elite, creating bundled programs with local operators and introducing installment payment plans. More generally, Apple has kept the iPhone 14 at a similar price to the iPhone 13, despite using new features and materials.
“What Apple is trying to do is make it more affordable for these people,” said Chiew.
