India helps drive iPhone growth in emerging markets in December quarter: Apple

NEW DELHI: Smartphone major Apple said iPhone sales in emerging markets like India along with Brazil, Thailand, Turkey, and Mainland China grew double-digits in the December quarter. Its iPad sales also saw growth in India in the December quarter.
Apple's iPhone revenue in the December quarter was $56 billion, up 8% over a year ago, driven by "the exceptional demand for the iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro, and iPhone 11 Pro Max."

"We had double-digit growth in many developed markets, including the U.S., the UK, France and Singapore, and also grew double digits in emerging markets led by strong performances in Brazil, Mainland China, India, Thailand, and Turkey," Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO said during an analyst call after the earning results.

He said that iPhone 11 was its top-selling model every week during the December quarter, and the three new models were our three most popular iPhones.

For iPad, Cook said that Apple saw growth in key emerging markets like Mexico, India, Turkey, Poland, Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam.

Counterpoint Research said that Apple was one of the fastest-growing brands in Q4 2019 in India, driven by multiple price cuts on its XR device, thanks to local manufacturing in India.

iPhone shipments grew 6% in 2019, though on a smaller base after a 43% decline the year before in India. For the October-December quarter, it grew 41%, more than double the pace of the premium smartphone market where Counterpoint said the expansion was slower than the full year average of 20%.

2019 saw the fastest rollout of Apple’s new iPhones (11 series) in India, with aggressive pricing and a good channel strategy. The new series especially iPhone 11 was introduced at a lower price point than the last year's iPhone XR launch. This has helped to gain share during the festive season and in its launch quarter in India.