Apple vice: illegal iPhone sales in Russia have grown to 70%
In 2025, about 70% of iPhones sold in Russia enter the market illegally — without paying taxes and customs duties — whereas a year ago this share was about 50%, importers told Izvestia. Some of them have already stopped importing gadgets in parallel due to the inability to compete with the "gray" market. Apple does not control shipments to Russia, although it is trying to do so in other markets — for example, the company banned Indian distributors from re-exporting new smartphones within 90 days after purchase. But this local innovation will not affect the Russian market, both official and "gray", sellers and experts say. What measures will help combat illegal importation is in the Izvestia article.
How many iPhones are imported into Russia illegally
In 2025, approximately two-thirds of iPhones (about 70%) entered Russia under "gray" schemes, in violation of tax and customs laws, while law-abiding sellers using parallel imports pay all the required fees, one of the retailers told Izvestia. This data was confirmed by an employee of one of the distributors, who accounted for a significant share of imports of these smartphones before Apple left Russia in 2022.
Apple is one of the Western companies that has completely abstracted from sales of its products in Russia, now they are completely chaotic.: Her smartphones are imported by anyone, however and for as long as they want, the Izvestia interlocutor noted.
— Because of this, we had to stop importing Apple to Russia in 2025. We simply cannot compete in price with the "gray" structures that do not pay taxes and fees when imported," he said.
According to MTS, the share of contraband Apple smartphones in Russia by the end of 2025 reaches 50%, and the total amount of funds that the country's budget is losing due to smuggling is about 30 billion rubles.
The "grey" iPhone market in Russia continues to grow: illegal sales channels (for example, online platforms and small non-chain stores) account for about 70%, confirms Eldar Murtazin, a leading analyst at Mobile Research Group. Until 2022, the share of "gray" supplies did not exceed 10%, in 2023 it increased to about 40%, and in 2024 to 50%, the expert specified.
According to him, "gray" sellers import these smartphones to Russia through the EAEU countries, without paying any customs duties, VAT, or other internal taxes. As a result, the cost of the same model for such sellers and in large law-abiding stores can vary by up to 70%.
The interest of "gray" importers in the iPhone remains high, since from a logistical point of view it does not make a significant difference whether a smartphone worth 5,000 rubles or 150,000 rubles is imported, one of the participants in the e-commerce market added. At the same time, the margin for Apple devices is much higher, he added.
By buying a "gray" iPhone, the user wins in price, but he must understand that such a device will most likely not be replaced by anyone in case of a malfunction and will not be repaired under warranty, warns Eldar Murtazin. Instead of a new device, they can sell him a carefully restored used gadget. Finally, there is a risk of acquiring a smartphone from a stolen shipment, the owner of which is abroad and may lock the device: in such a situation, there will be no one to complain to the Russian user, and it will be impossible to return the "tarnished" phone, the expert added.
Now customers may have problems with warranty service and activation of the gadget, regardless of the channel where it was purchased — the vendor has the ability to remotely block it, in turn, according to the Vsesmart smart home store chain. The share of Apple smartphones in the Russian market is about 20%, while half of the iPhones are supplied through "gray" channels, they say.
Izvestia sent a request to the Federal Customs Service and Apple.
Is it possible to limit the "gray" import
— After the official withdrawal of Apple from our market, the products stopped receiving support from the vendor, and many official suppliers gradually abandoned their import to the Russian Federation. The high key rate and conscientious compliance with the law by legitimate businesses led to an increase in selling prices for products officially imported with payment of all duties and taxes. This allowed the "gray" sellers to increase their sales, the share of which, according to various estimates, ranges from 50 to 70%," said Anton Seleznev, product manager at diHouse.
As a result, when choosing a seller, the consumer, in exchange for the difference in price, increasingly runs the risk of encountering a counterfeit or a device that does not meet the stated characteristics, for example, used under the guise of a new one, he added.
In global markets, Apple is trying to regulate the cross-border turnover of its products. For example, at the end of November, Indian media reported, citing their sources, that Apple had imposed a partial ban on the re-export of iPhones from this country. If gadgets shipped to an Indian seller are activated with a SIM card of a foreign operator within 90 days, the dealer will face a fine or termination of shipments of goods, these sources claimed. However, even if this information is correct, it will not have any impact on the Russian "gray" market, according to gadget sellers interviewed by Izvestia.
— For a long time, no electronics have been purchased or almost no electronics have been purchased in India. The Middle East and China have become the main supply channels," one of them explained.
There is no question of any restriction on iPhone shipments to Russia, much less blocking them, said Eldar Murtazin. If the information provided by the Indian media is correct, it means regulating the activities of the local dealers themselves, he stressed.
As a rule, companies enter into a contract with Apple to sell a certain number of iPhones and receive bonuses for fulfilling the contract. If the planned volume of goods cannot be realized, its remnants are often resold abroad to preserve the bonus, but this creates problems for partners already working there in the form of additional competition, Eldar Murtazin said. In order to prevent such intersections and abuses, Apple imposes such sanctions on its partners. According to him, the iPhone for the Russian market is being purchased in China, the UAE and even the USA, but not in India.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Finance intends to create a single database of IMEI (International Mobile Equipment Identity) mobile device identification numbers. Without registering these codes in a special database, gadgets simply will not be able to work on Russian cellular networks. This would help reduce the volume of "gray" imports, market participants believe. According to Lyudmila Semushina, a representative of the Inventive Reatail Group, the measure may contribute to the "whitewashing" of the market.
— As part of the work on the second package of measures to combat cyber fraud, the Ministry of Finance is exploring the possibility of creating a database of IMEI — unique identifiers of mobile devices. It is assumed that as soon as a new device is registered in the network of a telecom operator, he immediately sees its IMEI. The operator will have to transfer the IMEI information to the database. The project is planned to be implemented by the end of the first quarter of 2027, the ministry told Izvestia.
The bill has yet to be introduced and discussed in the State Duma, so its content may change, while work on the document continues, the department explained.
Some market participants have already introduced smartphone registration by IMEI on their sites. Thus, sellers on Wildberries are required to specify a unique code for all mobile devices, the requirement applies to all sales models — both from the marketplace warehouse and from the seller's warehouse, according to the Wildberries & Russ press service.
The IMEI is checked at the order acceptance stage: if an incorrect code is specified or missing, the product is not allowed for sale, the company said. In addition to these requirements, the marketplace uses a set of measures to identify and prevent violations by unscrupulous sellers, the company added.
The "gray" import channels to some extent helped saturate the market with equipment, primarily those brands that officially left the Russian Federation, which made it possible to avoid shortages and sharp price spikes, said an employee of one of the e-commerce companies. Therefore, a relatively loyal attitude has developed towards such schemes, and as a result, the share of "gray" iPhones in the market was at least 50%. According to him, it is possible that supply chains will begin to be streamlined as early as next year.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
