Shipments of India-manufactured smartphones grew 6% YoY in 2024, with Samsung and Apple accounting for ~94% of exports; Samsung's India exports grew 13% YoY
Counterpoint Research :
Context & Ripple Effects
India’s export-manufacturing growth comes after Apple’s local market momentum strengthened, including its highest quarterly iPhone shipments in India in 2023, while Samsung remained the country’s leading smartphone brand. Apple’s rapidly rising iPhone exports from India had already signaled that production was being directed beyond domestic demand.
The new export split makes the manufacturing story more concentrated than a broad-based industry expansion: two global handset leaders captured nearly all India-made smartphone exports.
First-order effects
- Apple and Samsung are the immediate beneficiaries of the 6% rise in India-manufactured smartphone exports, with their combined share of roughly 94% concentrating export volume in their supply chains.
- Samsung’s 13% export growth outpaced the overall expansion, increasing its contribution to India’s outbound smartphone production.
Second-order effects
- Other handset makers seeking to use India as an export base face a higher scale hurdle, because Apple and Samsung already account for the overwhelming share of export shipments.
- Customers and suppliers tied to India-made smartphones will be more exposed to the production plans of these two companies than to broader handset-industry demand.
Third-order effects
- If this concentration persists, India’s smartphone-export role will be shaped primarily by the manufacturing strategies of a small number of global brands rather than by a diversified local export base.
- The pattern points to a manufacturing model in which export growth can continue even when gains are uneven across brands, making concentration an important measure alongside total shipment growth.
The trend: India is becoming a more consequential smartphone-export production hub, but its growth is currently concentrated in Apple and Samsung-led supply chains.