From 2007, when the first iPhone was not even launched in the country, to the first global launch and availability phase, India has emerged as an important strategic market for Apple. It’s not just about having a flexible supply chain; Cupertino giant Apple is doing a pretty good business in India. Apple CEO Tim Cook said, “Looking at the business in India, we set a quarterly revenue record and delivered very strong double-digit growth year-over-year, so we feel very good about how we performed. This is despite the odds.”
2022 was one of the best years for Apple in India as the company’s shipments grew by 11%, which helped the company record its highest ever volume share of 5.5%. For the said quarter, Apple shipped two million iPhones in India, of which the newly introduced iPhone 14 series made up 59% of iPhone sales. It even sold 2 lakh iPads in the same period, with the iPad Pro 2022 dominating 30% and the iPad 9 series contributing 27% of tablet sales for Apple, according to cyber media reports.
However, due to supply chain constraints resulting from the COVID resurgence in China, and resulting longer-than-usual wait times on the 14 Pro models, Apple reported 18% quarter-over-quarter growth, but was down 7% year over year. The year. “The aggressive marketing offers and promotions helped push the older generation iPhones, including the iPhone 13 series,” Prabhu Ram, Head – Industry Intelligence Group, CyberMedia Research told Business Today.
As Apple did fairly well through COVID in India, on the occasion of COVID, Tim said, “I am even more optimistic now, hopefully on the other side of this. That’s why we’re investing there by bringing retail there, bringing online stores there and putting a significant amount of energy there. I am very bullish on India.” He added, “India is a very exciting market for us and a key focus. We brought there online store in 2020. We will soon bring Apple retail there. We are putting a lot of emphasis on the market. A lot is happening with financing options and trade-ins to make products more affordable and give people more options to buy.
The first Apple retail store was planned to open in 2021, but the pandemic and other economic uncertainties delayed the plans and the company’s first flagship 22,000-square-foot store in Mumbai is now expected to launch by March 2023. As per available information, a second store (10000-12000 sq. ft.) is being planned in New Delhi.
Behind Apple’s investment in India towards making its products affordable and accessible across offline and online retail, CMR’s Ram said, “Apple’s growing share of upstream domestic value addition under Make in India is a key driver of its strategic growth in India. Will continue to give At Cybermedia Research, we continue to see a strong India growth momentum in 2023 driven by our upcoming flagship retail store initiatives.
Announcing financial results today for the first quarter of fiscal 2023, ending December 31, 2022, Apple posted quarterly revenue of $117.2 billion, down 5 percent year over year.