2024 sees Apple’s rise in India with record iPhone sales and expanding retail
New Delhi: 2024 has turned out to be a remarkable year for Apple in India, as the tech giant not only broke new records for exports but also saw impressive growth in domestic sales. This success can be attributed to a combination of factors, including the rising trend of premiumisation, the government's Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme, and Apple's aggressive retail expansion in the country.
Industry experts believe that Apple’s strategic approach in India over the past year has contributed to its increasing market influence. Smartphone exports, in particular, have seen a 45 percent rise, with Apple playing a major role in this growth as it expands production in the country.
Apple’s production in India, backed by its vendors Foxconn, Pegatron, and Tata Electronics, has greatly boosted smartphone exports. The company’s iPhone production reached an impressive $10 billion during the first seven months of the current fiscal year (FY25), with $7 billion in exports alone, setting a new record. From April to October, Apple exported iPhones worth nearly $1 billion each month, as per industry data.
Tarun Pathak, Research Director at Counterpoint Research, said, "Apple has successfully tapped into the rising trend of premiumisation in the world’s second-largest smartphone market. The ultra-premiumisation trend is steadily gaining momentum with each passing quarter."
India's importance for Apple is growing, supported by its three-dimensional strategy focusing on domestic manufacturing, expanding distribution, and driving premiumisation. According to Counterpoint Research Market Outlook, India is set to surpass Japan and the UK, becoming Apple’s third-largest market for shipments by 2026.
"Premiumisation in India, with readily available financing, boosts affordability for premium smartphones, benefiting Apple’s exclusive focus on this segment," Pathak added.
As Apple’s presence in India grows, its shipments are expected to cross the 11 million mark in 2024, showing a 10 per cent year-on-year growth. Analysts predict that this growth will continue into 2025. Amid increasing demand for iPhones in aspirational markets across India, Apple’s operating revenue in the country surged by 36 per cent, reaching over Rs 66,700 crore (approximately $8 billion) in FY24.
In the same period, Apple’s profit also saw an impressive increase, rising by 23 percent to Rs 2,746 crore ($330 million) in FY24, compared to Rs 2,229.6 crore ($268 million) in FY23.
Prabhu Ram, VP of Industry Research at CyberMedia Research, shared that Apple’s growth in India is expected to continue at a strong pace in the coming year, driven by aggressive retail expansion, targeted marketing strategies, and deeper penetration into the aspirational Indian market. “This growth is fuelled by the strong demand for both the latest and previous generation iPhones,” Ram said.
IANS