The growth comes despite the company officially ceasing sales of its products in the country in 2022
Sales of Apple’s MacBook Air and Pro in Russia soared by 20% year-on-year last year despite the tech behemoth leaving the country in 2022, Izvestia has reported, citing retailers.
Apple halted sales of its physical products in Russia in 2022 under sanctions pressure, but its App Store and some subscription services still operate in the country. The strong growth in laptop sales in 2023 contravenes the prevailing narrative that the goods of companies such as Apple are becoming increasingly scarce in Russia.
Last year, the share of Apple’s gadgetry in the Russian market registered year-on-year growth of 1% to reach 6%.
Apple retained its leadership in laptop sales at the stores of major Russian electronics retail chain M.Video-Eldorado, according to Aleksander Afonin, a product manager at the company, as cited by Izvestia.
Meanwhile, the electronics department director at MTS, Nina Plastinina, said that Apple’s share increased, as retailers managed to get supply chains back on track. She added that this has boosted competition and ultimately provides consumers better prices.
In 2022, Russia’s Trade Ministry gave permission for Apple products to be brought into the country through parallel import schemes. As a result, Russian consumers can easily access the latest smartphones, tablets, and laptops imported via third countries such as Türkiye, the UAE, and former Soviet states.
Apple is not the only electronics manufacturer to be seeing increased sales in Russia despite having left the country. In 2023, laptop sales of the Taiwanese brand Asus soared 21%, while its share of the local market increased from 13% in the previous year to 14%.
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