Apple bites big, turns largest smartphone exporter from India

New Delhi: Apple has for the first time outpaced Samsung on smartphone export volumes from India, shipping 49% of the country’s total 12 million shipments in the June quarter compared to its Korean rival’s 45%. This underscores the Cupertino, US-based company’s rapid expansion of local manufacturing in the country.

Industry data showed Apple, which makes iPhones in India through contract manufacturers, clocked a rapid growth in export volumes in the last year. Its share of exports soared from just 9% of the roughly 8 million smartphones shipped in Q2 2022, to almost half the total smartphone exports in Q2 2023, industry executives said. India exported around 13 million smartphones in March quarter this year, which fell to 12 million in Q2 2023. Exports stood at 10 million smartphones in Q1 2022, and 8 million in Q2 2022, according to data accessed by ET.