Apple CEO Tim Cook has emphasized the rising importance of the Indian market for the company, noting that the Indian market is at a “tipping point” due to a growing middle class. During the earnings conference call, Cook mentioned that India is an “incredibly exciting market” and a “major focus” for Apple. He highlighted the fact that India had set a quarterly record and grown very strong double digits year over year, making it a good quarter for the company.
Tim Cook About India’s Importance for Apple
Cook’s comments come on the back of Apple’s significant retail expansion in India in the past month. Cook visited India in April 2023, after nearly seven years, to launch two retail outlets, one in Mumbai and another in Delhi. During his India trip, Cook also met Prime Minister Narendra Modi, IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, and junior IT Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar, affirming the tech giant’s investment commitments to the world’s second-largest smartphone market.
Apple is betting on India to become a key manufacturing hub to diversify its manufacturing capabilities beyond China, thanks in part to incentives provided by the government through its production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme for smartphones. The firm clocked iPhone exports of about $5 billion-$5.5 billion from India in FY23, accounting for nearly half of the country’s mobile phone exports, according to estimates from industry sources.
Apple’s Growth in India
Apple also continues to lead India’s premium smartphone market (above Rs 30,000) in Q1 2023, with a 36 percent market share, according to the market research firm Counterpoint Research. It clocked record shipments of over 6.5 million in 2022, registering a 16 percent growth YoY, the firm noted. However, the company’s overall market share in the country’s smartphone market is still modest, estimated to be at around 6 percent.
Benefiting from the growing premiumization trend among Indian consumers, Apple has clocked record revenue growth in terms of iPhone sales in India in recent quarters. Apple’s India sales have reportedly jumped to nearly $6 billion in FY23 from $4 billion in FY22.
India’s Potential for Apple
“Overall, I couldn’t be more delighted and excited by the enthusiasm I’m seeing for the brand there. I was just there, and the dynamism in the market, the vibrancy is unbelievable,” Cook said.
During the call, Apple CFO Luca Maestri said that iPhone sales set a March quarter record of $51.3 billion in revenue, due to strong performance in emerging markets such as India, Indonesia, Turkey, and the UAE, with revenue doubling in these markets on a year-over-year basis.
In response to an analyst query that drew comparison between India today and China about a decade ago, Cook said that “each country is different and has their journey”.
“What I do see in India is a lot of people entering the middle class, and I’m hopeful that we can convince some number of them to buy an iPhone,” he said.
Apple currently offers its music streaming, video streaming, and its video game subscription service at competitive prices to Indian consumers, although a range of services including Apple’s mobile payment service Apple Pay or other services such as News+ and Fitness+ are yet to make their way into the country.
Globally, Apple has over 975 million paid subscriptions across various services on its platform, Cook said during the call.
Source: MoneyControl
