Apple's Online Store in India Drives Significant Shipment Growth in Q1 2021

Apple enjoyed a "significant increase" in shipments in India in the first quarter of 2021, according to Canalys, suggesting the opening of its online store in the country late last year has been reaping rewards for the company (via DigiTimes).

india online store
Launched in September 2020, Apple's Indian online store offers a full range of Apple products and accessories with shopping assistance from Apple Specialists, EDU pricing for students, free no-contact delivery, financing options, a trade-in program for iPhone sales, and more.

Driven largely by traffic to the store that led to subsequent purchases, Apple became the fifth largest computer brand in India in Q1, with shipments of desktops, notebooks, tablets, and workstations combined reaching 208,000 units.

Research firm IDC's figures also indicate Apple's computer shipments in India (excluding tablets) grew 335.5% year-on-year in the first quarter and only lagged behind Asustek's by around 2,000 units. Apple and Asustek were tied for fifth place in IDC's rankings for computer brands in India in the quarter.

In a January earnings call, Apple CEO Tim Cook said that its India online store had received a "tremendous" response since opening, and that it had doubled Apple's smartphone share in the country to 4% in the December quarter. Cook said that as a result of the success, Apple was bringing forward plans to launch brick-and-mortar retail stores in the country.

Popular Stories

ios 26 1 slide to stop

iOS 26.1 Brings Back 2007 Feature in New Way

Friday October 31, 2025 1:40 pm PDT by
The upcoming iOS 26.1 update includes a small but helpful change for iPhones, and it could prevent you from running late to something important. Specifically, when an alarm goes off in the Clock app, there is a new "slide to stop" control on the screen for turning off the alarm. On previous iOS 26 versions, there is simply a large "stop" button, which could be accidentally tapped. The new ...
M5 MacBook Pro

Waiting for New Macs? Apple Just Shared Bad News

Friday October 31, 2025 7:32 am PDT by
Apple has just given a strong indication that it will not be releasing any additional new Macs for the remainder of the year. Apple's CFO Kevan Parekh dropped the hint during the company's earnings call on Thursday:On Mac, keep in mind, we expect to face a very difficult compare against the M4 MacBook Pro, Mac mini, and iMac launches in the year-ago quarter.Parekh essentially gave a heads up ...
iPhone 17 Pro Cosmic Orange

8 Reasons to Wait for Next Year's iPhone 18 Pro

Thursday October 30, 2025 4:42 am PDT by
Apple's iPhone development roadmap runs several years into the future and the company is continually working with suppliers on several successive iPhone models at the same time, which is why we often get rumored features months ahead of launch. The iPhone 18 series is no different, and we already have a good idea of what to expect for the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max. One thing worth...
iOS 26

6 New Things Your iPhone Can Do in iOS 26.1

Wednesday October 29, 2025 4:22 am PDT by
Apple is about to drop iOS 26.1, the first major point release since iOS 26 was rolled out in September, and there are at least six notable changes and improvements to look forward to. We've rounded them up below. Apple has already provided developers and public beta testers with the release candidate version of iOS 26.1, which means Apple will likely roll out the update to all compatible...
Coffee Burgundy and Purple iPhone 18 Pro Mock 1

Leaker Outlines Potential New Colors for iPhone 18 Pro

Friday October 31, 2025 8:28 am PDT by
Apple's iPhone 18 Pro models could be available in new rich and warm color option, according to a known leaker. The Weibo user known as "Instant Digital" today suggested that next-year's iPhone 18 Pro models will be available in at least one of the following color options: Coffee, purple, and burgundy. The iPhone XR, iPhone 11, iPhone 12, iPhone 14, and iPhone 14 Pro were all available in ...
Apple Foldable Thumb

iPhone Fold: Launch, Pricing, and What to Expect From Apple's Foldable

Friday October 31, 2025 8:52 am PDT by
Apple is expected to launch a new foldable iPhone next year, based on multiple rumors and credible sources. The long-awaited device has been rumored for years now, but signs increasingly suggest that 2026 could indeed be the year that Apple releases its first foldable device. Below, we've collated an updated set of key details that have been leaked about Apple's foldable iPhone so far. Ove...
apple tv hd

Apple Launched Its Big New Vision for TV 10 Years Ago Today

Thursday October 30, 2025 8:58 am PDT by
Apple launched the Apple TV HD, the Siri Remote, tvOS, and their accompanying App Store a decade ago today, marking a major overhaul of the device. The new vision for the Apple TV was unveiled on September 9, 2015 during Apple's "Hey Siri" event in San Francisco, where CEO Tim Cook introduced the device with the statement, "The future of TV is apps." The announcement represented a major...
iOS 26

Apple This November: iOS 26.2 Beta, Rumored New Products, and More

Thursday October 30, 2025 12:42 pm PDT by
Tomorrow is Halloween, and then November is upon us. Below, we outline what to expect from Apple next month, as the slower holiday season approaches. Apple is expected to kick off November by releasing iOS 26.1, iPadOS 26.1, macOS 26.1, watchOS 26.1, tvOS 26.1, and visionOS 26.1. With beta testing now wrapped up, the updates will likely be released this Monday, November 3 or Tuesday,...
iOS 18 Siri Personal Context

Apple CEO Tim Cook Says Revamped Siri on Track to Launch Next Year

Thursday October 30, 2025 1:50 pm PDT by
Apple CEO Tim Cook today said that a more personalized version of Siri remains on track to launch at some point next year, with the new set of features expected to debut on the iPhone as part of iOS 26.4 in March or April. "We're also excited for a more personalized Siri," said Cook, on Apple's earnings call for the third quarter of the 2025 calendar year. "We're making good progress on it,...
iOS 26

iOS 26.1 Coming Soon: New Features for Your iPhone and Release Date

Monday October 27, 2025 7:55 am PDT by
The upcoming iOS 26.1 update includes a handful of new features and changes for iPhones, including a toggle for changing the appearance of the Liquid Glass design, "slide to stop" for alarms in the Clock app, and more. Below, we outline key details about iOS 26.1. Release Date Given that Apple has yet to seed an iOS 26.1 Release Candidate, which is typically the final beta version, the...

Top Rated Comments

djcerla Avatar
57 months ago
Looks like Tim Cook was right about India. There’s a booming middle class hungry for Apple stuff, apparently.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
himanshumodi Avatar
57 months ago
I really hope their service and support is as good as it is in the rest of the world. With the base product, apple care+ and apple exchange rate, the products are obscenely expensive for India market. But if the support to go with it is good, a lot of the rich, upper middleclass folks will end up buying because of sheer longevity of Apple products (and the status associated with the brand).
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
One2Grift Avatar
57 months ago
Apple bringing its share to 10% in India would be a shock and certainly an incredible success point. Apple has decent sized shares in many industrialized countries but these markets are quite penetrated. Apple is virtually nada elsewhere. As such iPhone cominggrowth projections are quite small at around 3%.
India is a huge market. It alone would propel that 3% upwards to 4 or 5%.
we’ll see if it’s reality but iPhone a couple of points on iPhone revenue is huge.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Ramchi Avatar
57 months ago
Apple carefully playing India. Their products are sold more in the off market sources, second hand, scalpers from ME, Singapore,China,Hong Kong routs. I was able to get iPhone Xs Max 512 GB for excellent price ($800-$900) about 18 months back and could sell it after 10 months almost for the same price (under warranty).

If their mid ranger editions could match the prices of OPO Flagship version, then there will be huge shift in user base to iPhones(which Apple may not do) . Hence their growth in terms of market share will be very very slow but in terms of growth percentage it will be very impressive

.iPhone 11 price was the perfect one.

Right now my iPhone 12 Pro Max 512 costs $2100 in India.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Madhava Avatar
57 months ago

What would “really serious” look like? Remember, Apple does not chase market share (though they are curiously eager to brag about it when they have the edge) and will always protect their industry leading profit margins. So within those parameters what should Apple be doing to make gains in India? As a shareholder who is frustrated by the recently stagnant stock price I really want to know.
Apple should
Provide after sales support similar to that of US.
Open offline stores in metropolitan cities.
Introduce Apple backed monthly payments for buying hardware. (Current plans charge high interest on top of already premium price)
Make services (tv+, news, etc..) available in multiple Indian languages.

There are at a minimum 100 million Indians who can easily afford Apple devices (Still very low estimate). They need to see the value what Apple brings.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Vratikranka Avatar
57 months ago

I must admit I don't know much about this. However, I do know many of the models sold in India are not even available in the US. Do they manufacture their flagship phones there?
Yes they do.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)