Apple’s iPhone 16 rings record-breaking expectation in India for festive quarter

livemint.com:

Mint spoke with expect Apple to register up to a 20% boost in iPhone sales in India in the next three months as retailers unleash discounts and product launches to celebrate the country’s peak festive season. This, in turn, could help Apple close in on the $15-billion revenue milestone in India in 2024-25, driven by consumer thirst for the benchmark-setting company’s latest AI offerings, a natural consumer upgrade cycle, better pricing, and more affordable instalment plans.

Sales of iPhones, despite their premium pricing, or because of it, have been rising exponentially in India the past five years—from around $1.5 billion in 2020-21 to $7.5 billion in 2023-24. Apple’s overall India revenue in 2023-24 jumped to over $8 billion from $4.8 billion in the year before.

Over the next three months, Apple could sell up to 3.3 million units of its iPhones in India, an 18% year-on-year increase, as per consensus estimates of four top market analysts surveyed by Mint. Apple’s overall revenue in India, including iPhone sales, is projected to rise even faster—up to $3 billion in the December quarter, up 30% from a year earlier, with the average selling price of iPhones tipped to increase by 5-8%.

That would make for an annual increase of nearly 30% in Apple’s quarterly revenue from iPhones sold in India. “This year marks a natural upgrade cycle for consumers, after 2020 and 2021 being the last calendar years when most users bought new smartphones," said Navkendar Singh, associate vice-president at market researcher International Data Corporation, India.

“With iPhones largely seeing a usage cycle of 3-4 years, Apple is anyway tipped to see stronger buyer interest this year. This can help the company cement a market share of nearly 8%