Apple has made no secret of the fact that it sees tremendous growth potential in both India and China which is why it has been particularly focusing on these markets to drive smartphone growth as demand slows down in other markets across the globe. The latest data from Counterpoint research shows that the company set a record for iPhone sales in India last year by selling more than 2.5 million iPhones.
The data also mentions that in the final quarter of 2016, the iPhone accounted for over 60 percent of all premium devices having price tags over $450. This was courtesy of the iPhone 7 which was released late last year. Despite the fact that it’s performing better than it has ever had in India, Apple still has a long way to go before it can dominate the Indian smartphone market.
Samsung leads as far as overall sales volume for 2016 is concerned with a 24 percent market share. Vivo comes in second place with 10 percent. Xiaomi and Lenovo share the third position with 9 percent of the market each.
According to Counterpoint’s data, Chinese smartphone manufacturers have managed to carve out a 46 percent market share for themselves in India last year. That’s up from just 14 percent in 2015.
Apple’s strategy for continued growth in India now relies on local manufacturing of the iPhone. If it starts to manufacture iPhones locally in the country it would help avoid import fees on its smartphones which will bring down prices and make iPhones more affordable in a market where cost is often a big factor for first-time smartphone customers.
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