Tim Cook stepped down as Apple’s chief executive earlier this month, ending a fifteen-year tenure marked by rapid growth in revenues and market value. While much of Apple’s success under Cook came from scaling businesses that already existed, India stands out as one of the few major bets that took shape entirely during his tenure.
Over the past decade, the country has emerged as both a significant market for the iPhone and an important manufacturing hub for Apple, reflecting two of Cook’s defining priorities: expansion and operational efficiency.
Growth drivers
During Apple’s earnings call with analysts in April, Tim Cook said he was “net-net over the moon excited about India,” noting that a majority of the company’s customers in the country were first-time buyers. When Cook took over as CEO in 2011, just over four years after the first iPhone was launched, India remained a relatively small market for Apple.
Growth began accelerating after 2020 for two main reasons. First, Apple strengthened its distribution network. This was symbolized by the 2023 opening of its first company-owned stores in BKC in Mumbai and Saket in Delhi—both inaugurated by Cook. The network has since expanded to six stores. While these flagship outlets boosted visibility, sales volumes came from Apple’s broader retail strategy, which included e-commerce platforms, Apple premium resellers, large-format retail chains, and multi-brand outlets.
The second driver was the expansion of financing options. According to Counterpoint Research, nearly two-thirds of all premium smartphone purchases (priced above ₹30,000) in India were financed. Apple has actively supported this trend through partnerships with banks that offered credit card discounts to make its devices more accessible to a wider base of consumers.
Premium play
When Apple increased its focus on India, Cook was clear that the company would not chase volumes through low-cost devices. In an interview with The Hindu in 2016, he said: “We are in India for the next thousand years. Our horizon is very long… So it doesn’t bother me that we don’t have top market share.”
A decade later, Apple is still not among the top three smartphone brands by volume. Yet it is no longer a marginal player. According to International Data Corporation (IDC), roughly one in every ten smartphones sold in India has been an iPhone.
However, it leads in value. Counterpoint Research estimates that Apple accounts for 28% of the smartphone market by value, making it the market leader despite its modest unit share. While Apple introduced the more affordable line in India from 2016 onwards, even these devices remained firmly in the premium segment and did little to make Apple a mass-market player. Instead, demand came from older-generation iPhones sold at lower prices, often backed by financing schemes and festival-season discounts. About two-thirds of iPhone volumes in India come from previous-generation models, an IDC official told TechCrunch last year.
Manufacturing hub
An even bigger priority for Cook was turning India into a manufacturing base for Apple.
During his first visit to India as CEO in 2016, Cook met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and discussed the possibility of . A year later, Apple began assembling the iPhone SE at a contract facility in Bengaluru. By 2025, India was producing an estimated 55 million iPhones annually, about a quarter of Apple’s global output.
Three factors drove this shift. First, the Indian government actively encouraged local manufacturing through high import duties and the Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme, which benefited Apple’s suppliers and contract manufacturers. Second, Apple wanted to reduce its dependence on China. Rising tariff risks during the first Trump administration and later supply-chain disruptions caused by covid-19 lockdowns exposed the vulnerabilities of concentrating production in a single country. As a result, many global companies began diversifying their manufacturing footprint. So did Apple.
Third, India itself was becoming an increasingly important market for Apple. During a 2024 earnings call, Cook acknowledged the link between production and demand: “From a pragmatic point of view, you need to produce there to be competitive, and so, yes, the two things are linked.”
China dependent
While reducing dependence on China is a key driver behind Apple’s manufacturing shift to India, China remains at the heart of the company’s supply chain. Even today, it accounts for roughly three-quarters of global iPhone production. In many ways, China’s manufacturing ecosystem is one of Tim Cook’s biggest achievements. As chief operating officer under Steve Jobs, Cook helped build Apple’s vast supplier network in China.
China’s scale is huge. Of Apple’s roughly 187 disclosed suppliers, about 157 have production facilities in China. Even for iPhones assembled in India, an estimated 70% of components continue to be sourced from China. Beyond factories, China also possesses a deep pool of specialized manufacturing talent. As Cook told Fortune in 2017, while the United States might struggle to fill a room with tooling engineers, China could fill multiple football fields.
China is equally important as a market. It contributes roughly 15% of Apple’s revenue and remains one of the world’s largest premium smartphone markets. The country is also home to millions of Apple devices, generating significant services revenue through the App Store and other digital offerings.
Unfinished work
When Tim Cook took over as CEO on 24 August 2011, he inherited a company that reflected Steve Jobs’ personality. Over the next fifteen years, he focused on operations, supply chains, capital allocation and global expansion.
Apple’s market capitalization grew from about $350 billion in 2011 to nearly $4.7 trillion by the time Cook stepped down. Revenue rose from $108 billion to more than $400 billion. Under his leadership, Apple became the first US company to cross the $1 trillion valuation mark.
Cook’s legacy extends beyond the iPhone. He oversaw the launch of the Apple Watch and , helping build a wearables business that now generates tens of billions of dollars annually.
Yet, Cook leaves his successor with significant challenges. Apple remains heavily reliant on the iPhone. It trails rivals in artificial intelligence. It must also reduce its dependence on China without disrupting its supply chain. India, both as a market and a manufacturing base, remains a work in progress.
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