INDIA RACES FOR THIRD SPOT IN APPLE PIE

NEW DELHI: As Apple registered strong double-digit growth in India in the March quarter this year, experts on Friday said that the country will likely become the tech giant’s third-largest market in the next two to three years.

According to Tarun Pathak, Research Director at Counterpoint Research, Apple will continue to grow faster than the market and might grow more than 20 per cent this year in the country.

“In India, revenues grew to record levels due to better product mix and channel expansion. We believe Apple will continue to grow faster than the market and might grow over 20 per cent in 2024,” Pathak said. India is home to more than 850 million mobile phone users and has the potential to have over a billion smartphone users in the next five years.

According to experts, this gives a significant opportunity for Apple in terms of the huge potential market outside China and the US in the coming years as most of these users are upgrading to their second or third smartphones right now and being ‘mobile first’, consumers are spending and upgrading to better and more expensive smartphones.

Apple shipped approximately 10 million iPhones in India last year, accounting for 7 per cent of the market share, as per Counterpoint report. Moreover, Prabhu Ram, Head, Industry Intelligence Group at market intelligence firm CMR, said that given the headwinds Apple faces in the European Union (EU) and China, India will be a key growth engine over the next decade.

Apple’s continuing brand strength, combined with its ramped-up ‘Make-in-India’ production and strong online and offline retail presence, makes the brand accessible to more young Indian consumers, Ram said.

During the company’s earnings calls on Friday, Apple CEO Tim Cook said that India is a major focus for the company.

“We are very, very pleased about it. It was a new March quarter revenue record for us. As you know, as I’ve said before, I see it as an incredibly exciting market and it’s a major focus for us,” the Apple CEO told analysts. The tech giant is geared up to manufacture over 50 million iPhones in India annually, as it aims to shift some of the production out from China.

We are very, very pleased about it (India). It was a new March quarter revenue record for us. As you know, I see it as an incredibly exciting market and it’s a major focus for us — Tim Cook, CEO, Apple