By Sam Boughedda
Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) could ramp annual revenue to $20 billion by 2025 in India, according to Wedbush analysts who have an Outperform rating and $205 price target on the stock.
"This week marks a significant strategic move for Cupertino as Cook will cut the red ribbon on the first India retail stores this week in Mumbai and New Delhi," they explained.
The analysts added that the tech giant's retail strategy will be focused on getting new customers but "importantly converting Samsung/Xiaomi/vivo/OPPO customers into Apple iPhone customers over time" in the Android-heavy market.
"While market share in India is sub 10% today, we believe Apple, through its unmatched marketing and brand presence, will be able to turn India into an incremental growth catalyst as the anniversary iPhone 15 hits the market in the September timeframe," said the analysts.
Following the COVID lockdowns in China, the Apple is also looking at India from a production standpoint when it comes to iPhones.
"As Foxconn/Apple put more skin in the game on the iPhone production front within India, this will go hand in hand with a bigger retail presence within India as seen this week, which mirrors the early days of the China penetration strategy going back a decade," continued Ives.
"For years, Apple has tangentially went after the India market with some success as India revenue is only roughly $6 billion (less than 2% of global revenues) today with minimal presence in the country. That dynamic will be changing as Apple is now aggressively looking at India from both a production and retail expansion over the coming years that we believe will be a strategic poker move for Cupertino that could ramp annual revenue to $20 billion by 2025 in India."