Inside India newsletter: Apple set to take a bigger bite of the world’s second-largest smartphone market

Hello, this is Priyanka Salve, writing to you from Singapore.

Welcome to the latest edition of "Inside India" — your one-stop destination for stories and developments from the world's fastest-growing large economy.

While U.S. tech major Apple ranks among the major smartphone brands in many Asian countries, India is an outlier, with Chinese brands and Korea's Samsung dominating the market. But last Friday, Apple's latest iPhone launch resulted in long queues outside the company's stores across major Indian cities.

This week I dig deeper to understand what's driving Apple's popularity.

Any thoughts on today's newsletter? Share them with the team.

Boosted by the strong demand for the latest iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max, U.S. smartphone maker Apple is set to increase its share in India, a hotly contested market largely dominated by Chinese smartphone companies and Korea's Samsung.

Last Friday, India was in the grips of iPhone fever as customers formed long queues outside Apple stores in major cities like Mumbai, Delhi and Bengaluru. Some reportedly waited for over 10 hours just to be the first to buy the latest iPhone, while others travelled for hours from smaller Indian cities to Apple stores in big cities to upgrade their iPhones.

"I change my iPhone every year," Hitesh Patel, a customer queuing overnight outside the Apple store in Mumbai, told ANI. A common sentiment among customers was that features did not matter, but owning the latest iPhone did, affirming the appeal of the smartphone as a key status symbol.

The demand for the latest iPhone is stronger than the iPhone 17 launched last year, experts told CNBC, adding that this year the U.S. smartphone brand's market share in India will touch double digits for the first time.

"Apple's volume market share is likely to hit 10% in 2026, reaching double digits in a single calendar year for the first time, up from 4% in 2022," Tarun Pathak, research director at Counterpoint Research, told CNBC.

He added that based on the initial channel checks, the iPhone 18 Pro series is seeing nearly 20% higher demand than the iPhone 17 series a year ago.  

This comes at a time when Chinese smartphone companies that dominate the Indian market are losing market share. India is the world's second-largest smartphone market by volume, and according to June-quarter data from IDC and Counterpoint Research, four of the top five brands in the country are Chinese.

Vivo has the biggest market share of about 18%, followed by the Korean company Samsung. However, as global chip costs rise, it is forcing affordable smartphone brands to raise prices in the country.  

Apple too has raised prices in India and launched more expensive phones, but higher prices of iPhones only make it a "more premium, more aspirational choice," Upasana Joshi, senior research manager for client devices research at IDC India, told CNBC.

"Despite the sharper premium on India pricing this time, [Apple's] demand should hold steady," she said, adding that the pace of growth may ease off.

During the June quarter, the market share of most Chinese brands fell as per IDC data, while Apple and Samsung gained market share.

"Apple has successfully tapped into India's rising trend of premiumization, supported by strong affordability levers," such as zero-cost monthly loan payments and student offers, Pathak said, adding these options have narrowed the gap between "aspiration and affordability."

Take the case of iPhone 18 Pro, which sells for a hefty price of 164,900 rupees ($1,700) in a country with a per capita annual GDP of $2,800. But with the zero-cost monthly payment option, customers could own the iPhone 18 Pro by paying less than 10% of the price every month for 12 months.

Apple sold 37.2 million iPhones in the Asia Pacific market, excluding China and Japan, in 2025, of which 14.4 million units were sold in India, IDC data showed. iPhone sales in India also grew 16% in 2025 compared to the regional average of 12%.

However, since the start of the year, India is seeing a fall in sales of smartphones, acutely in the entry-level devices where prices have risen sharply. Apple's shipments to India also dropped in the June quarter, for the first time in more than four years, but it was mostly due to supply shortages and inventory constraints, experts said.

While the jury is still out on whether the iPhone 18 Pro, Pro Max and Duo, which will be on sale in October, will turn the tide in terms of unit sales, experts agree that the new launches will help Apple consolidate its hold on the Indian market.

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