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India-made iPhone export shoots up, but domestic sales still low

Apple currently accounts for just under 7% of India’s smartphone market. However, analyses suggest that India's sales could reach $33 billion by 2030, fuelled primarily by rising middle-class purchasing power and a greater use of payment plans.

By Dhanam News Desk
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iPhone

Rising middle-class incomes could jack up iPhone demand in India by 2030.

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Apple Inc. has significantly boosted its iPhone exports from India, reporting a one-third increase in the six months leading up to September. The company exported nearly $6 billion (approximately Rs 50,000 crore) worth of India-made iPhones, marking a substantial rise compared to the previous year. This trend suggests that annual exports could exceed the projected $10 billion in 2024-25, Bloomberg reported.

As part of its strategy to diversify manufacturing away from China, Apple is rapidly expanding its presence in India, leveraging local subsidies, a skilled workforce, and advancements in technology.

Three major suppliers—Taiwan's Foxconn Technology Group, Pegatron Corp., and India’s Tata Electronics—are involved in assembling iPhones in southern India. Notably, Foxconn’s local facility near Chennai is the leading contributor, responsible for half of the country’s iPhone exports.

Tata Group’s electronics manufacturing arm exported about $1.7 billion worth of iPhones from its factory in Karnataka from April to September.. Tata acquired this unit from Wistron Corp. last year, becoming the first Indian assembler of Apple’s best-selling product.

iPhones account for the bulk of India’s smartphone exports and helped the product category become the top export to the US at $2.88 billion in the first five months of this fiscal year.. Five years ago, before Apple expanded manufacturing in India, the country’s annual smartphone exports to the US were a meager $5.2 million.

iPhone purchases in India still low

Still, Apple accounts for just under 7% of India’s smartphone market, which is dominated by Chinese brands such as Xiaomi, Oppo and Vivo. India is still a small market for iPhones globally, Apple is making big bets.

The subsidies by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s administration helped Apple assemble its pricey iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max models, with better cameras and titanium bodies, in India this year. It’s also seeking to open new retail stores, including in the southern tech hub of Bangalore and western city of Pune.

Last year, Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook launched Apple’s first shops in Mumbai and New Delhi.

The grand openings, the marketing blitz around the new stores, an aggressive online sales push as well as a rapidly growing middle class that aspires to own Apple products boosted its annual India revenue to a record of $8 billion in the year through March.

Bloomberg analyses suggest that India's sales could reach $33 billion by 2030, fuelled primarily by rising middle-class purchasing power and a greater use of payment plans.