Apple breaks into India’s top 5 smartphone brands, surpassing realme in 2024

The American multinational corporation and technology company, Apple Inc, secured a place in the top 5 smartphone brands in India. This has happened for the first time since it began selling iPhones in the country.

According to the latest CyberMedia Research (CMR) report, Vivo, Xiaomi, and Samsung remained market leaders in India Mobile Handset Market, while Apple made its debut in the top five smartphone brands.

The company scaled a 11th straight quarterly revenue record in the October-December period, with analysts estimating that the iPhone’s gross revenue hit $10 billion in the country last year.

The chief executive of Apple, Tim Cook, underlined India's role both as a consumption market and an export hub for Apple in the company's post-results earnings call. Cook mentioned that he was “particularly keen on India, which set a December-quarter record during the quarter”.

“We are going to open four new stores there (in India). Also, the iPhone was the top-selling model in India for the quarter. And it’s the second-largest smartphone market in the world and the third largest for PCs and tablets, and so there's a huge market. And we have very modest shares in these markets, and so I think there’s lots of upside there,” Cook said.

Following the United States and China, India is poised to become Apple’s third-largest market globally by 2026. Apple’s shipments in India rose to over 12 million units in 2024, a 34–35% year-on-year growth from 9 million units in 2023, according to IDC.

Apple began producing the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max in India in 2024 through its contract manufacturers Foxconn and Pegatron.

India’s smartphone market recorded shipments of over 38 million units in the fourth quarter of 2024, with annual shipments projected at approximately 153–154 million units, according to IDC.

Apple reported a net profit growth of 23% to ₹₹2,745.7 crore in FY2023-24. The rise was driven by a 36% year-on-year (YoY) revenue growth to ₹67,121.6 crore.