Sales of Apple’s iPhone crossed the 1.5 Mn units mark during the first week of Indian festive sales for the first time ever, as per the findings of Counterpoint Research.
In fact, overall smartphone sales also grew 25% in value in the first week of the festival sales, which ended on October 15.
As per the research firm, 80% of the phones sold on two major ecommerce players, Amazon and Flipkart, during the first 48 hours were 5G capable. Premium segment sales almost doubled across online channels, Counterpoint noted.
The research firm expects festive season smartphone sales volume to grow 7% YoY and average selling price (ASP) to increase 15% YoY this year.
The findings are in line with Redseer’s analysis, which found that items with high ASPs, such as mobiles, electronics, and large appliances, emerged as the largest contributor to sales during the first week of the festive sales of ecommerce players this year.
The consulting firm also noted that the ecommerce platforms’ strategy of creating ‘pre-book/price-lock’ features played a role in premiumisation emerging as a theme this festive season.
Meanwhile, it must be noted that iPhones are slowly taking up a significant share in the Indian smartphone market. This is also happening at a time when Apple has doubled down on its India manufacturing targets.
Three contract manufacturers of Apple – Foxconn, Wistron and Pegatron – have been investing heavily in India to scale production of iPhones in the country. Several of Apple’s latest smartphone models, including iPhone 15, are already being manufactured by Foxconn in Tamil Nadu.
To that end, in Q2 2023, Apple surpassed Samsung as India’s largest smartphone exporter, accounting for 49% of the country’s 12 Mn smartphone shipments during the period.
Apple aims to ramp up its India production by over 5X from the current levels to around $40 Bn by 2027.
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