India’s premium smartphone market share has seen a significant increase as demand for high-end phones increases and Apple’s iPhone achieves mass production in the country.
Apple is expected to pick up more share in the Indian smartphone market, with shipments of the premium iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max models being the most critical.
Nabila Popal, head of research at market intelligence firm IDC, said, “India’s premium smartphone market has climbed significantly from 0.8% of the total market in 2019 to 6.1% in the first half of 2023, thanks in large part to Apple’s success.”
IDC data shows that Apple is the biggest winner in India’s $800 (currently about RMB 5,840) or more smartphone market segment, first half of the year enough to occupy 67% of the market share, while Samsung accounted for only 31%.
In addition, market research firm Counterpoint expects Apple to account for 7% of overall sales in the Indian smartphone market from July to December, up from 5% in the first half of 2023.
The tech giant has been eyeing India as its next growth driver in recent years amid declining sales of its flagship devices and has also been ramping up the scale of its industrial chain’s production operations in the country.
The wait for Apple’s latest iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max models has been extended to late October in India, mirroring the trend in China and the US, meaning that high-end iPhones are no less hot in the country than in those two major markets.
Counterpoint expects these models to account for 25% of overall iPhone 15 shipments in India in the fourth quarter, up 4% from iPhone 14 Pro / Max models shipped in the same period last year.
