Apple may see double-digit growth throughout 2021 in India

Recording one of the strongest ever quarters (April-June 2021) in the country, Apple is likely to register a double-digit growth throughout 2021 in India. After doubling its business in the October-December 2020 quarter, and delivering strong March 2021 quarter results, Apple had recorded one of the best ever sales quarters in April-June 2021.   “As we head into H2 2021 and the all-important festive quarter, Apple is positioned to turbo-charge its growth in India with a potential double digit growth for the full year, on the back of the increased local assembly, aggressive marketing initiatives and strong consumer appetite,” says Prabhu Ram, Head of Industry Intelligence Group at CMR.   iPhones continue to be the biggest contributor to Apple’s success story in India. “Apple iPhone 11 accounted for its bull run with >60% of iPhone shipments. Other iPhone models, including the iPhone 12, iPhone XR, and iPhone SE 2020 also continued their good run,” adds Prabhu Ram. This comes at the time where the Indian smartphone market fell 13% sequentially in the said quarter due to the second wave of the pandemic, as per Canalys.   India was taken by surprise by the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic resulting in many states imposing lockdowns for close to two months in April-May. While the offline stores were shut, e-commerce platforms continued to sell and deliver products. “Despite the lockdowns, Apple has recently done well to expand its online channel presence including its online store and that has helped. Going forward we expect Apple and on track to record its best annual performance in India ever since. Work from home and education segment also helped in the sales of iPads and iMacs as well and the services will pick up as well. So overall a positive outlook for Apple in India,” explains Tarun Pathak, Research Director with Counterpoint Technology Market Research.   Over the last few years, India has emerged as an increasingly important and focused market for Apple, which has started showing positive growth. After delivering strong March quarter results, the company acknowledged being very pleased with its growth story in India, as iPhone sales, along with iPads and Macs, continued to rise in the country. Apple CEO Tim Cook referred to India in the opening statement, and said that India was amongst the vast majority of markets for Apple that grew double-digits in the last quarter.   Commenting on the April-June quarter growth, Pathak added, “iPhone shipments grew 144% YoY to cross 600K units. This is their second strongest quarter for Q2 , the strongest one being Q2 2016. However, YoY might not be a fair comparison as almost half of the Q2 last year was washed out. Interestingly even if we compare pre-pandemic second-quarter performance for Apple, Apple grew 35% as compared to Q2 2019.”   This momentum would only continue going forward.

Also read: Apple registered double-digit revenue growth in India in June quarter: Tim Cook