New Delhi: Apple Inc. on Friday reported a record March quarter in India—its 18th consecutive record period in the market—with double-digit growth in iPhone sales defying the country’s broader slowdown in smartphone shipments, which declined nearly 12% in the same period.
Apple’s India revenues also hit a record high in the March quarter, growing in double digits, Tim Cook, the company’s CEO, said in an earnings call, adding he was “over the moon excited” about the opportunity in the market. The company does not disclose country-wise revenue figures.
Apple also recorded double-digit growth in sales of its iPad tablet lineup in India in the quarter, Cook said, which analysts said reflected the increasing maturity of the company’s customer base.
Pointing out that the company has been focused on India for a while, Cook said, “It has been wonderful to see how we have continued to grow in India in recent years, part of our larger efforts to connect with even more customers in emerging markets all over the world.”
Cook, who is set to step down as CEO in September and hand over to John Ternus, noted that India is the second-largest smartphone market in the world and the third-largest PC market. “Despite doing extremely well there for quite some time, we still have a modest share, which speaks to the opportunity we have,” he said.
Underlining Apple’s focus on India, Cook added that the country’s rising middle-class was one of the company’s biggest targets worldwide. “In the majority of our categories—from iPhone to Mac to iPad to Watch—over half of customers are new to that product there. It speaks very well to growing the install base,” he said.
Cook also called out an enterprise order of 5,000 units of MacBook Air and Pro laptops by tech services firm Freshworks for its India employees.
Globally, Apple Inc reported $111.2 billion in quarterly revenue in its second quarter (January–March), which the company said was a record for the period. It follows an October-September financial year.
Growing dominance
All of this has transformed Apple from a niche player into a significant force in India’s electronics market.
Data from independent market research firm International Data Corporation (IDC) India said Apple finished calendar year 2025 as the fifth-highest selling brand in the country’s smartphone market, selling 14.5 million iPhones, or about 9.5% of the 152 million smartphones sold in India during the year.
This was the first year Apple finished in India’s top five in terms of number of smartphones sold. Importantly, Apple is projected to have topped India’s smartphone market by revenue share. The Indian smartphone market generated more than $43 billion in annual sales in 2025, data from IDC showed.
“Apple remained the leading company by value for the third successive quarter in India, with a value share of over 25% and a volume share of 9%, driven by the sustained momentum of the iPhone 17 series,” Tarun Pathak, director of research at fellow market research firm Counterpoint India, said.
According to Pathak, this growth is the result of a multi-focused approach across products, channels, and operations. “Beyond iPhones, Apple also had a solid quarter in the Mac and iPad categories, as its aspirational appeal in India is now stronger than ever,” Pathak added.
Apple is on track for its eighth consecutive year of growth in India, yet challenges are mounting. Analysts from IDC and Counterpoint estimate iPhone sales will be just under 16 million in 2026.
While that is a massive jump from the 1.5 million iPhones sold in 2019, the growth estimate is just 12% over 2025, its slowest in the past eight years when iPhone sales had grown at 25% or more each year.
Apple also continues to use India as an increasingly important manufacturing base, with iPhones accounting for nearly 50% of India’s $48 billion of electronics exports in 2025.
