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Sources familiar with the matter said that Apple will make India-built iPhone 15 units available to Indian customers and customers in “some other regions” on the first day of sales. The India-built phones will hit the market simultaneously with the China-made ones for the first time.
In India, the iPhone 15 model is being manufactured by Apple’s contract manufacturing partner, Foxconn.
Analysts believe that this move by Apple shows its confidence in its manufacturing ecosystem in India and is aligned with its continuous growth in the market.
“This is a significant step for Apple to get the iPhone 15 made in India, which means Apple is streamlining its supply chain in India and has complete confidence concerning security and privacy aspects of the entire operations along with the capability of its suppliers to manufacture the latest iPhone 15,” Neil Shah, Vice President Research, Counterpoint Research, told ET at the sidelines of the Apple 15 launch at the company’s headquarters in Cupertino.
Shah said that the move also chimes well with the growth Apple has been seeing in the last couple of years in India, which is seeing the premiumisation trend. “So, Apple has a significant opportunity to capture the premium market share. The Indian-made iPhone 15 will help Apple to pass on the duty savings to customers in the upcoming festive season,” he added.
The iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus will be available in 128GB, 256GB, and 512GB storage capacities, starting at Rs 79,900 and Rs 89,900, respectively. The iPhone 15 Pro starts at Rs 1,34,900 and is available in 128GB, 256GB, 512GB, and 1TB storage capacities. iPhone 15 Pro Max starts at Rs 159900 and is available in 256GB, 512GB, and 1TB storage capacities.
Prabhu Ram, Head of the Industry Intelligence Group at CMR, said that Apple's robust growth in India, driven by increased localisation and retail strategies, is set to continue with the iPhone 15 series. “Yet, addressing production challenges and potential delays with the iPhone 15 Series, and especially the 'Pro' models, is crucial. Our research insights point to Apple's historical growth in India driven mainly by older iPhone sales.”
Apple recently said that it set an all-time revenue record for the iPhone in India with strong double-digit growth in the June quarter, and the performance of its new stores exceeded its expectations.
Apple earlier this year opened two stores in Mumbai and Delhi. During last quarter’s earnings call, Apple CEO Tim Cook said these stores are currently beating expectations regarding their performance. “We continue to work on building out the channel and investing more in our direct-to-consumer offers,” he said, adding India is the second-largest smartphone market in the world, and the company “ought to be doing really well there”.
Apple was the seventh largest smartphone brand in India in the April-June quarter, with a 5.5% share after Vivo, Samsung, Realme, Oppo, Xiaomi and OnePlus, as per IDC, which added that Apple’s iPhone 13 and OnePlus’ Nord CE3 Lite were the highest shipped 5G models in India last quarter.
Apple also had the highest average selling price of $929 and registered a massive 61% year-on-year growth in sales in India last quarter, as per IDC.
Market trackers said Apple would end the year with a record 8-9 million iPhone shipments, compared with 6.7 million in 2022. They expect Apple to achieve its best-ever market share of 6-7% by the end of 2023, riding on the back of its most robust performance in the year's first half.
Sales in the first half of the calendar year have almost doubled to about 4 million from the year-ago period, bucking tepid demand in the overall market, which is expected to be flat or grow marginally this year, market trackers added.
(The reporter is in San Fransico to cover the iPhone 15 launch at the invitation of Apple)
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