iPhone 15 sales take off, but top models in short supply

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₹2 lakh remains much lower than that for standard iPhones. “Demand for the iPhone 15 Pro series is much less than the standard iPhone 15 models—for every 10 Pro iPhones sold, we’re seeing orders for at least 80 standard models," the Kolkata-based retailer said. This is in line with historical demand for the iPhone Pro models in India.

According to data from market researcher International Data Corp. (IDC) India, the Pro models typically account for around 15% of all iPhone sales in the country, and it’s the same this year as well. The retailer, however, added that Apple has been more proactive about supplies this year.

“Our second and third batch of orders are already in line—the second order for supplies is set to be approved today itself, while the third round is expected to be approved and processed by Apple by Monday. Until last year, this used to take up nearly 10 days for every round of orders," he said. Manish Khatri, a partner at Mumbai-based retailer Mahesh Telecom, however, said overall demand is tepid.

“Supplies of the Pro iPhones are low, leading to the devices being out of stock at the moment. But, this is not due to higher-than expected demand. More consumers are inquiring about the older series of Apple’s iPhones, and they are likely to await the rollout of festive season offers before we see consumer demand ramp up," Khatri said.

An email query sent to Apple remained unanswered. Analysts expect the company to record its highest-ever shipments of over 9 million units of its iPhones in India this year. Even though this is still around a third of the overall shipments of market leader Samsung, it is expected to help Apple potentially capture the top spot in smartphone market revenue in India this year.