India a major focus market for Apple, says CEO Tim Cook

Tim Cook said they see a lot of headroom for growth in the country

India is an "incredibly exciting" market for Apple and a major focus area for the company, Apple CEO Tim Cook said on November 3, reiterating the country's rising importance for the iPhone maker's future growth.

During the company's earnings conference call, Cook said the company was seeing a lot of headroom for growth in the country since the it has a "low market share in a large market".

"We see an extraordinary market. A lot of people are moving into the middle class, distribution is getting better. We put two retail stores there, they're doing better than we anticipated," Cook said.

The comments come at a time when the tech giant is entangled in a controversy in India over its recent threat alerts sent to certain iPhone users, including several opposition MPs and journalists.

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has sent a notice to Apple, with the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) investigating the matter, Moneycontrol reported on November 2.

Cook's remarks also came after the company posted its fourth straight quarter of revenue decline on a yearly basis, marking the longest slump the American firm has faced in over two decades.

Apple's revenue dipped 1 percent year-on-year (YoY) to $89.5 billion for the fourth fiscal quarter of 2023. Apple CFO Luca Maestri said on the call that they expect the overall revenues in the ongoing quarter to be similar to the corresponding quarter last year. Apple follows an October to September financial year.

Read: China iPhone sales strong, Apple tells investors as Huawei threat looms

India shines for Apple

India has emerged as one of the bright spots for the company in recent quarters. Cook said they hit an all-time revenue record in India in the September quarter, registering a strong double-digit growth. This was aided by iPhone sales crossing an all-time record in the country during the quarter. Cook, however, didn't disclose any specific information.

In the July-September quarter, Apple saw its highest-ever quarterly shipments in India, crossing 2.5 million units, registering a 34 percent YoY growth, market research firm Counterpoint Research said.

"While overall smartphone shipments are likely to decline by 5 percent in 2023, Apple will grow by 38 percent in India," said Tarun Pathak, research director at Counterpoint.

Apple is benefiting from the growing premiumisation trend among Indian consumers and has been trying to increase its market share by bringing in a range of devices and financing offers.

The company saw a 48 percent YoY jump in revenue at Rs 49,322 crore in FY23. Profit increased by about 77 percent to Rs 2,230 crore.

"We continue to work with our partners to offer a wide range of affordability programs so that we can best serve our customers" Maestri said on the earnings call.

The company is among the top players in India's ultra-premium smartphone market (above Rs 45,000), however, its overall share in the country's smartphone market is still modest. Apple had about 4.5 percent market share last year and is expected to hit 6 percent in 2023, Pathak said.

Going local

Over the past year, Apple has been aggressively ramping up local production of its flagship iPhone devices in India for domestic use and exports 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.

Apple 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, as per industry estimates.