How Apple grew in India under Tim Cook as CEO

Apple is gearing up for a leadership change as Tim Cook steps down as its chief executive officer (CEO). The iPhone maker has announced John Ternus will replace Cook, who will stay on as executive chairman when the new CEO takes over on September 1, the company said in a statement on Monday (April 20).

Under Cook’s leadership of 15 years, Apple’s market value rose by $3.6 trillion. The supply-chain genius also expanded the iPhone maker’s presence in India during his tenure.

We take a deep dive.

The visit that changed all

In May 2016, Tim Cook became the first Apple CEO to visit India. The trip, which saw him meeting top Indian business leaders, partying with Bollywood actors, visiting Siddhivinayak temple in Mumbai and watching an IPL cricket match in Kanpur, proved to be a game-changer for Apple’s India story.

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The tour came amid the Cupertino-based technology giant reporting its first-ever drop in revenue in 13 years. In a first, Apple’s global iPhone sales declined – a 16 per cent plunge from the first quarter of 2015. However, they increased by 56 per cent in India in the same quarter.

The Apple CEO also met Prime Minister Narendra Modi, discussing the “possibilities of manufacturing” and tapping the young talent in India.

A vital outcome of Cook’s India trip was the announcement of Apple's plan to open a new iOS App Design and Development Centre in Bengaluru. The App Accelerator, now called the Developer Centre, opened in 2017 in Karnataka's capital to help developers make their apps better.

During its CEO’s visit, Apple also launched its new office in Hyderabad to focus on the development of its Maps for products like iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple Watch. The US-based company said the initiative will speed up Maps development and create up to 4,000 jobs.

In an interview with The Hindu at the time, Cook had said that these facilities announced for Bengaluru and Hyderabad were only the beginning of what was to come.

And he was right.

How Apple flourished in India under Tim Cook

Since Cook’s first visit, Apple has witnessed tremendous growth in India. In 2017, the tech giant started manufacturing iPhones in the South Asian country.

Wistron Corporation, the Taiwan-headquartered firm that manufactures iPhones for Apple, opened a small pilot plant in Bengaluru to make the smartphone in India. Since then, Apple’s largest manufacturing partner Foxconn has launched factories in India.

The iPhone maker has also scaled production in India through its local partner, the Tata Group, which has acquired Wistron and Pegatron’s India operations.

According to a recent Bloomberg report, Apple’s iPhone production in India rose by about 53 per cent in 2025. The company assembled about 55 million (5.5 crore) iPhones in the South Asian country last year, a jump from 36 million (3.6 crore) a year earlier.

The American company manufactures 220 million (22 crore) to 230 million (23 crore) iPhones a year worldwide. India’s share in producing these smartphones has been rising, with about 25 per cent of the high-end devices now made in the country.

In FY25, India manufactured nearly Rs 5.45 lakh crore worth of smartphones — a 28 times surge from Rs 18,000 crore in 2014-15, as per an Economic Times (ET) report.

This comes amid Apple’s pivot away from China, which remains its largest maker of iPhones. Last year, the US tariffs on China pushed Apple and its suppliers to rely on iPhone manufacturers outside the Asian giant for devices meant for the American market.

“Over half of the US sales of iPhone come from India," Cook told CNBC in May 2025. During the earnings call for the fourth quarter of financial year 2025 (FY25), Apple CEO said the company set an “all-time revenue record in India”.

Today, Apple is among the top five smartphone brands in India. Beyond manufacturing, the tech giant has also expanded its retail footprint in India.

Apple has tapped into the world’s second-largest smartphone market, with its broader penetration coinciding with a boom in India’s middle class.

Since launching its first two stores in India in 2023, Apple has opened four more stores in the country.

Apple CEO Tim Cook reacts after seeing a Macintosh SE computer held by Sajid Moinuddin, a fan of Apple products, during the inauguration of India's first Apple retail store in Mumbai, April 18, 2023. File Photo/Reuters

In FY25, Apple India Private Ltd reported Rs 79,378 crore in revenue, up 18 per cent from FY24. Its net profit stood at Rs 3,196 crore — a 16 per cent surge, ET reported, citing data from Tofler.

Apple is preparing to launch Apple Pay, its contactless payment service, in India later this year. Cook had mentioned introducing the service in the country during his 2016 visit.

Apple India's office space in Hyderabad’s WaveRock IT park hosts R&D and corporate teams, while similar investments are in the pipeline in Bengaluru and Chennai.

Apple's India journey after Cook

At the helm, Cook, 65, took Apple to new heights. He reshaped the company's global manufacturing and market strategy, with India emerging as a pivotal force for that shift.

As per Moneycontrol, Apple's focus is likely to move towards building an AI-first hardware ecosystem under the new CEO. Ternus' engineering-led approach could further boost India's significance for Apple, both as a manufacturing hub and as a market for next-generation devices.

“For Apple in India, it could translate into two things. First, during his tenure, we could see India’s role and stature further rising in the company’s scheme of things as he would attempt to play a strong hardware play within Apple, for which India could become the prime geography. So more strategic association and importance for India is on Apple’s map,” Faisal Kawoosa, analyst at TechArc, told the financial news outlet.

“The second possible gain… could be India expediting its progress in AI native hardware through Apple as it intensifies its focus and efforts in the space,” he added.

Speaking to Moneycontrol, Tarun Pathak, research director at Counterpoint Research, observed that Cook “did a great job uncovering the potential of India and structurally signalling its global importance,” across manufacturing, retail and ecosystem development.

He suggested that Ternus will have to build on that momentum, particularly given India’s young and increasingly aspirational consumer base.

With Cook stepping down from the role of CEO, Apple's India journey is entering a new phase. Only time will tell how it pans out.

With inputs from agencies