May 2023: A month after visiting India to open the tech giant’s first store in the country, Apple CEO Tim Cook tells analysts: “India is at a tipping point”.

More than two years later, Cook’s bullishness seems to have paid off handsomely. Apple reportedly earned a record high $9 Bn from India in FY25, marking a 13% year-on-year (YoY) increase.

While Apple’s ‘Make In India’ push is well-publicised and increasingly involves more locally manufactured components, the revenue growth is a vindication of Apple’s slow-burn strategy.

Overall, the company’s exports of iPhones from India rose 76% and stood at INR 1.50 Lakh Cr (free on board value) in FY25. Cook also claimed that India delivered record revenue in the April-June quarter of 2025 on the back of double-digit gains across iPhones, Macs and services.

Plus, Apple is said to have exported a record $10 Bn (about INR 88,730 Cr) worth iPhones from India between April and September, reflecting a 75% jump from $5.71 Bn in the same period last year.

And while Apple has always had its fans in India, many feel this is just the beginning of Apple’s massive push into the world’s largest market outside of China. At the heart of it all are Apple Stores — now in most major cities — and a sharp focus on leveraging India’s ecommerce ecosystem for hardware and services through omnichannel strategies.

Essentially, Apple has built an ecommerce and retail giant in a matter of two years. A lot of credit has to go to the brand itself, but there’s more to it than is obviously apparent. Let’s see how Apple got here.

Brand Apple Grows

Apple India is no longer a brand confined to a select affluent class — it’s fast becoming a mainstream force in the country’s smartphone market. The company retained its position among the top players in India, expanding its value share to 23% during the April–June 2025 quarter.

This year’s iPhone 17 series has seen unprecedented demand in India. Pre-bookings are 19% higher than last year’s iPhone 16.

Plus, Apple’s India-based partners are reportedly producing all variants of the new iPhone lineup for domestic sales and exports. This is the first time Apple is shipping all new variants of an iPhone from India right from launch.

Apple’s hand was forced in many ways by the geopolitical tensions between the US and China, and India’s manufacturing ecosystem has certainly reaped the benefits. By 2026, Apple is expected to shift its entire assembly line for US-bound iPhones to India. The manufacturing push is a major factor behind brand Apple growing in India, particularly when it was combined with the retail push in 2023.

“India is experiencing a significant shift in its smartphone market, driven by consumer maturity and a desire for more advanced devices. As a result, the trend of premiumisation is accelerating, with a growing number of people buying their third or fourth smartphone,” said Neil Shah, the cofounder of Counterpoint Research.

According to Shah, upgrading to a........

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