Apple shipped 4.9 mn iPhones to India in Jul-Sep 2025, most in a quarter

Buoyed by the launch of its new iPhone 17 series on  September 9 and the onset of the festival season, Apple Inc shipped a record 4.9 million smartphones to India in the July-September quarter of 2025 (Q3CY25), up 47 per cent year-on-year — its highest quarterly shipments to India to date — according to data from research agency Omdia.

 

What’s more, the Cupertino-based technology giant’s India shipments accounted for 9 per cent of its global iPhone volumes in the quarter — another record. The rise from 6 per cent in the same period last year underscores India’s growing significance as a market for Apple.

 

The surge in iPhone shipments came even as overall smartphone shipments to India grew by only 3 per cent to 48.4 million units. As a result, Apple’s share of the Indian smartphone market rose to 10 per cent in Q3CY25 from 7 per cent a year earlier. This marked the first time the company entered the list of the top five smartphone brands by volume in this quarter. The leading players during the quarter were Vivo, Samsung, Xiaomi, Oppo, and Apple — in that order. 

 

Sanyam Chaurasia, principal analyst at Omdia, said demand from smaller cities boosted volumes, driven by aspirational buying, aggressive festival offers, and better product availability. “While older iPhone 16 and iPhone 15 models contributed significantly through discount-led upgrades, the iPhone 17 base model also gained momentum, supported by strong upgrades from users of the iPhone 12 to 15 series,” he said.

 

Chaurasia added that Apple would, going forward, focus on driving Pro model upgrades and deepening its ecosystem to sustain long-term growth.

 

Apple’s growing traction was also reflected in the initial sales response to the iPhone 17 series. Industry estimates showed that pre-bookings during the first weekend of launch were up 30-40 per cent compared to the iPhone 16 series.

 

According to Counterpoint Research, iPhone 17 sales in India during the initial days were 19 per cent higher than those of the iPhone 16. This growth outpaced China, where iPhone 17 sales in the first 10 days were 14 per cent higher than iPhone 16.

 

Riding on the unexpected surge in domestic demand, Apple’s India sales in FY25 hit $9 billion, largely driven by iPhone sales. In FY24, the figure had been $7.6 billion (around ₹67,000 crore). Analysts estimate that, at the current pace, Apple could cross ₹1 trillion in FY26.

 

Meanwhile, the September-quarter shipment data also shows the widening gap between market leader Vivo and its closest rival Samsung. In the same quarter a year ago, Vivo and Samsung were neck and neck, with 17 per cent and 16 per cent market shares, respectively. However, in Q3CY25, the gap widened, with Vivo’s share rising to 20 per cent, and Samsung’s slipping to 14 per cent.  This report has been updated to correct an error in the previous version