India Becomes Apple’s Hotspot, CEO Pins Hopes on Record Sales Surge

Apple Inc.'s India business has shown robust growth as sales increased for the quarter ending in December 2024, with the iPhone being the most demanded Apple product in the country. During the company's earnings call on January 30, Apple CEO Tim Cook said the company is "particularly keen on India" and has planned to open more new stores in India. 

"The iPhone was the top-selling model in India for the quarter, and it's the second largest smartphone market in the world and the third largest for PCs and tablets, and so there's a huge market, we have very modest share in these markets, and so I think there's lots of upside there. and that's just one of the emerging markets," said iPhone maker's CEO during the earnings call on Thursday. 

Also Read: Apple Eyes Kalyani Group to Reduce Dependence on China

Apple's revenue for the quarter increased 4% on a year-on-year basis to $124.3 billion. iPhone topped the list of Apple's most demanded products and generated $69.14 billion in revenue followed, by Mac with $8.99 billion and iPad with $8.08 billion contribution in total revenue.

Apple Captures Indian Smartphone Market 

Apple’s presence in the Indian smartphone market has been for years, but in the past few years the giant has witnessed significant growth both in sales and manufacturing in India. Apple bagged the position of top 5 smartphone brands in India in 2024, for the first time since it started selling iPhones in India, the MoneyControl reported, citing a Counterpoint Research study.  

“Apple set a record by entering the top five vendor list for the Indian smartphone market in Q4 2024 with a market share exceeding 9%. Festive discounts drove this growth, alongside affordability offers...emerged as one of the leading factors for this surge,” Upasana Joshi told Moneycontrol. Joshi is Research Director at IDC. 

The report stated Apple led the Indian smartphone market in supply value terms with 23% share while China’s Vivo led the market in volumes in 2024, according to the Moneycontrol.  

Apple’s popularity in India has also grown due to consistent efforts by the government to decrease dependence on smartphones from China and production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme to boost domestic manufacturing, which has benefited iPhone maker. According to report by the Economic Times, India’s total contribution to Apple’s overall production increased nearly 50% in just one financial year.