Apple's sales in India surged 33% to nearly $8 billion in the year through March, Bloomberg News reported on Monday, citing sources familiar with the matter. According to the report, more than half of these sales came from iPhones.
Apple shares (NASDAQ:AAPL) rose 2% in premarket trading.
In April, Bloomberg News also reported that Apple assembled $14 billion worth of iPhones in India last fiscal year, with up to 14% of its flagship devices now produced in the country.
Most of the iPhones made in India are manufactured at the Sriperumbudur plant, located about 25 miles west of Tamil Nadu's state capital, Chennai.
The sales growth reflects Apple's steady progress in capturing the market in India, the world’s most populous country, where consumers are increasingly gaining purchasing power as the economy grows. Apple is focusing on India to diversify its manufacturing and revenue sources beyond China, which has become more volatile due to trade tensions with the US.
While Apple does not disclose India-specific revenue in its earnings reports, it is required to report annual sales to local authorities.
India's market is dominated by more affordable Chinese devices running Google’s (GOOGL) Android operating system, with iPhones comprising only about 3.5% of the approximately 690 million smartphones in use, according to Counterpoint Research.
Despite being one of Apple’s fastest-growing markets, India accounts for just about 2% of Apple’s latest fiscal-year sales of $383 billion.
Apple’s revenue in China fell to $72.6 billion in the latest fiscal year as the economy slowed, although iPhone sales have recently rebounded due to heavy retailer discounting. Tensions between the US and China have led Apple and other global tech firms to increasingly focus on India as a key growth market.
The tech behemoth has also been rapidly expanding its manufacturing operations in India. Currently, it produces models including the latest iPhone 15 in the country, but not the higher-spec Pro and Pro Max models. Most of the devices assembled in India are exported.
According to Bloomberg, Apple’s assembly partners in India doubled production to $14 billion worth of iPhones in the last fiscal year.