iPhone shipments in India grow 6% in 2019 compared to 43% fall a year ago

Apple’s iPhone shipments in India grew 6 per cent in 2019 compared with a 43 per cent decline in the previous year, stabilising its position in a rare market that still exhibits growth in smartphone demand.

Discounting the iPhone XR by $250 in the middle of the year made it Apple’s best-selling phone in the country, according to Counterpoint Technology Market Research. The fall introduction of the iPhone 11, with a reduced starting price, “helped to gain share during the festive season and in its launch quarter in India,” the researchers added. In a country where the annual per-capita income barely exceeds $2,100, an iPhone with a four-figure price tag is an out-of-reach aspirational object for most.