Strong results driven by iPhone sales in India smartphone market: Tim Cook

India's smartphone market saw a 10 per cent year-on-year (year-over-year) decline in the first half of 2023, shipping 64 million units, as stated in a report released by the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker.

Second Quarter 2023 Performance

In the second quarter of 2023, the market saw 10 per cent growth over the previous quarter but declined 3 per cent year-over-year, shipping 34 million units. The decline in shipments was attributed to suppliers and channels focusing on liquidating inventory through discounts, special schemes and price drops ahead of the festive season in the year's second half.

Changing Dynamics in Average Sales Price

Despite several quarters of growth, smartphones' average selling price (ASP) declined 8% QoQ but grew 13% yoy, reaching $241 in the second quarter. The share of smartphones in the under US$200 segment decreased from 70% to 65% compared to the previous year, showing a year-on-year drop of 11%. The midrange segment ($200<$400) was flat with a 22 per cent share, while the midrange to high-end segment ($400<$600) grew 34 per cent year-over-year in the second quarter of 2023, with a 5 per cent stake. The premium segment (US$600+) exhibited the highest growth, up 75 per cent year-over-year and reaching a 9 per cent share.

In the second quarter of 2023, 17 million 5G smartphones shipped with an average retail price of US$366, representing a year-over-year decrease of 3 per cent. Samsung, Vivo and OnePlus were the leading brands in the 5G segment, with a combined share of 54 per cent. In this period, the best-selling 5G models were Apple's iPhone 13 and OnePlus' Nord CE3 Lite.

Channel and brand performance

Overall, shipments to the online channel saw a 15 per cent year-over-year decline, while the offline channel saw 11 per cent growth, capturing a 54 per cent share. Online heavy players such as Xiaomi and realme contributed to the decline in shipments from the online channel, IDC reported.

Among the top 10 smartphone brands, Apple posted massive 61% year-over-year growth with the highest average sales price of $929. "We continued to see strong results in emerging markets, driven by robust sales of iPhone with June quarter total revenue records in India, Indonesia, Mexico, the Philippines, Poland, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the UAE," said Apple's CEO Tim Cook in the company's earnings call. Apple grew by "strong double digits" in India. OnePlus also achieved healthy growth of 61 per cent, though its average sales price fell 14 per cent year-on-year to US$346. POCO, with its affordable C-series models, saw the highest growth rate.