The image of the iPhone in Russian advertising has lost popularity.

Megafon told the newspaper that the operator is trying to show a “neutral” image of the smartphone in advertising without being tied to a specific brand. T2 takes a similar position and believes that operating within a specific brand or operating system is inappropriate.

Beeline, T-Bank, VTB, Sberbank and MTS did not respond to Kommersant’s request.

VK director of work with mobile platforms and suppliers Anton Vershinin claims that the image of the iPhone has become less popular in advertising, including due to the restriction of iOS services in Russia and the removal of familiar applications from the store online App Store.

The newspaper’s source among retailers cited the lack of supply of “promotional models” of smartphones from Apple itself as the reason. “Before, the company provided smartphones for free for filming advertisements, but now this is no longer the case,” the interlocutor explained.

A representative of M.Video-Eldorado, in a conversation with Kommersant, noted that previously “the key symbol of a modern smartphone was the iPhone,” but now devices from Samsung, Huawei, Honor and other companies are increasingly being shown in advertising.

Additionally, Apple began spending less money on advertising in Russia. According to Dmitry Antokhin, director of intellectual resource management at Okkam, the company’s costs for promoting its smartphones in the country decreased from 8% in 2022 to 3% in 2024.

Since Android devices occupy a large part of the market and continue to increase their share, advertisers have begun to more actively use images of smartphones in this system, since these devices are more recognizable in Russia, emphasized Alexander Kuznetsov, director of the marketing department of the Merlion and Citylink companies.

Apple stopped online sales and limited the operation of its Apple Pay payment service in Russia in March 2022. In addition, the company stopped official shipments of its products to the country and began removing applications from Russian companies from the App Store that were subject to Western sanctions.