Apple Inc.'s popular iPhone, a runaway hit in the U.S. and Europe, has encountered headwinds in emerging economies like China that are expected to provide the next leg of growth for the company's iconic smartphone.
In India, where cell phones are often the first device a family buys, only 50,000 iPhones have sold since the local unit of Vodafone Group Plc. (VOD) and Bharti Airtel Ltd. (532454.BY) began offering the smartphone in August 2008. In Russia, where the iPhone went on sale last year, Apple's three partners had each expected to sell millions of handsets; as of May, roughly 400,000 had been sold.
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