India can be the next China for Apple: Tim Cook

Bengaluru: With iPhone sales growing at a fast clip in India, the last large untapped market globally, CEO Tim Cook is confident that he can turn the country into the next China for Apple.

As sales of the iconic iPhone continue to fall globally, India is emerging as a shining star for Apple. Sales of the flagship devices were up by 50 per cent year-on-year in the 12 months that ended September.

"Our iPhone sales in India were up over 50% in financial year 2016 compared to the prior year, and we believe we're just beginning to scratch the surface of this large and growing market opportunity," said Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, in its latest earnings call with investors on Wednesday.

While sales of the iPhone in India are still minuscule in comparison to that of China, a fast growing economy and massive youth population could help Apple develop it into a huge market. Moreover, with 4G infrastructure only bursting onto the scene in the past few months, sales of smartphones in India are expected to accelerate even further.

Cook believes that India's GDP might not rival that of China's in the next decade, but says that the metric is "not critical for us to have a great success there". Instead, the massive middle-class population will drive sales of smartphones in the country, with Apple being confident about being able to capture a percentage of them as customers.

"There's going to be a lot of people there and a lot of people in the middle class that will really want a smartphone, and I think we can compete well for some percentage of those. And given our starting point, even though we've been growing a lot, there is a lot of headroom there," added Cook.

Currently Apple controls just 3 per cent of the smartphone market in India, with half of its sales coming from older, more affordable devices such as the iPhone 5s which retail for around Rs 20,000. The company is currently keeping older devices on sale in India for far longer than in developed markets, serving as a sampler for buyers to get into its iOS ecosystem.

To grow sales and get more consumers to buy its expensive iPhones, Apple is looking at providing a superlative smartphone experience to customers in India. While the company completely controls its hardware and software experience, it has in the past criticised the lack of high-speed Internet in the country as a restricting factor to customers getting the best smartphone experience.

"We're seeing some very exciting developments in India. Reliance Jio is rolling out a first of its kind all-IP network in India with 4G coverage in 18,000 cities and 200,000 villages across the country...we're partnering with them to ensure great iPhone performance on their network," Cook said.

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.