Apple is having their best year in India to date. With more than 2.5 million units sold, Apple has now surpassed Samsung and Xiaomi in terms of market share. Apple, Samsung and Xiaomi have a market share of 34%, 17% and 16.6% respectively. India is the second biggest smartphone market in the world and for Apple to have a 34% market share is huge.
The California-based tech giant has recently released their iPhone 15 series, which had a big impact on the Indian market. Moreover, a fair amount of iPhones are also manufactured in India. Apple’s manufacturing of iPhones in India is one of the biggest reasons for the company’s increasing market share in the country.
This development has urged Apple to make another big decision. According to an Apple analyst, Ming-Chi Kuo, Apple is planning on skipping the iPhone 16 and will manufacture their upcoming iPhone 17 in India. The company is expected to ditch China and increase its manufacturing capacity in India. The iPhone 17 is expected to launch in 2025 but its production is supposed to start in the latter half of 2024. Currently, up to 15% of iPhones shipped globally are manufactured in India and Apple plans to increase this number to 30%.
India is one of the fastest-growing markets for Apple and the company plans to fully capitalise on the situation in the next decade. For this reason, Apple is aiming to preserve a good relationship with the Indian government.
