Last Wednesday Patently Apple posted a report titled “India Approves a production-linked incentive plan that could lead to Apple manufacturing iPads in India.”
A report by IDC late on Friday titled in part “India Tablet Market Returns to Growth in 2020” showed that Apple, the global leader in tablets in Q4-20, ranked number three in India behind Samsung which grew from 19% in 2019 to 32% in 2020. Apple year-over-year was flat for 2020. Lenovo was number one with 39% of Indian market.
India tablet market recorded 14.7% YoY growth with shipments totaling 2.8 million units in 2020. It was a year of growth after declining for four consecutive years, mainly aided by the increased utility of tablets to support e-learning demand.
The demand remains centralized to the budget segment with US$100<$200 contributing to more than half of total tablet shipments in India. This is a segment that Apple has yet to address as an entry price.
Apple’s entry iPad mini currently sells for $400. For those already owning an older iPad mini, a trade-in could drop the price by $85 bringing the price to $315. That’s still way above the popular $200 price point. This is where starting iPad production in India could help Apple lower their entry model to better compete with the likes of Samsung and Lenovo.
India’s tablet market selling above $300 also witnessed an impressive growth of 72.3% YoY, supported by strong shipments of Galaxy Tab S6 Lite and iPad 10.2″.“
