Apple CEO Tim Cook reported an 18th consecutive record quarter in India during his penultimate earnings call before handing the reins to John Ternus. Speaking during the post-March analyst briefing, Cook, who is set to lead one final quarterly call in June, described himself as “over the moon excited” about the Indian market.
In the early hours of Friday, India time, Apple reported $111.2 billion in quarterly revenue, which the company said was a March-quarter record. While the iPhone maker does not reveal country-wise revenue figures, Cook said the latest quarter was also a record for Apple in India, with double-digit revenue growth.
The statistic is especially significant as India’s smartphone market suffered a significant decline, falling nearly 12% in the March quarter, Mint reported on 13 April. Apple appears to have bucked the trend, with Cook claiming double-digit growth for iPhones in India.
“It has been wonderful to see how we have continued to grow in India in recent years, part of our larger efforts to connect with even more customers in emerging markets all over the world… I think it is a huge opportunity for us. We have been focused on this for a while. It is the second-largest smartphone market in the world and the third-largest PC market. Despite doing extremely well there for quite some time, we still have a modest share, which speaks to the opportunity we have,” Cook said.
Underlining Apple’s focus on India, Cook added that the country’s rising middle-class was one of the company’s biggest targets worldwide. “In the majority of our categories—from iPhone to Mac to iPad to Watch—over half of customers are new to that product there. It speaks very well to growing the install base. Net net, I am over-the-moon excited about India,” he said.
Apple also recorded double-digit growth in sales of its iPad tablet lineup in India in the March quarter, Cook said, which analysts said reflected the increasing maturity of the company’s customer base. Cook also called out an enterprise order of 5,000 units of the company’s MacBook Air and Pro laptops by tech services firm Freshworks for its India employees.
Growing dominance
All of this has transformed Apple from a niche player into a dominant force at the heart of India’s electronics economy. Data from independent market research firm International Data Corporation (IDC) India said Apple finished calendar year 2025 as the fifth-highest selling brand in the country’s smartphone market, selling 14.5 million iPhones or about 9.5% of the 152 million smartphones sold in India during the year.
This was the first year Apple finished in India’s top five. The Indian smartphone market is the second-largest in the world, generating more than $43 billion in annual sales. Apple, with its increasing revenue share, is projected to have topped India in revenue market share in 2025.
Tarun Pathak, director of research at fellow market research firm Counterpoint India, said, “Apple remained the leading company by value for the third successive quarter in India, with a value share of over 25% and a volume share of 9%, driven by the sustained momentum of the iPhone 17 series. This growth is the result of a multi-focused approach across its products, channels, and operations. Beyond iPhones, Apple also had a solid quarter in the Mac and iPad categories, as its aspirational appeal in India is now stronger than ever.”
With Indians buyers branching out beyond the iPhone into other product lines, Pathak noted that Apple saw a record number of new users entering its ecosystem during the quarter.
Apple is on track for its eighth consecutive year of growth in India, yet challenges are mounting. Analysts from IDC and Counterpoint estimate iPhone sales will be just under 16 million in 2026—a massive jump from the 1.5 million sold in 2019. However, with annual growth slowing to about 12%, the company is facing its slowest growth in iPhone sales in eight years. Apple also continues to use India as an increasingly important manufacturing base, with iPhones accounting for nearly 50% of India’s $48 billion of electronics exports in 2025.
