Ahead of Apple announcing their Q1 2021 financials this afternoon, Patently Apple reported earlier this morning that LG Display announced their highest profits in three years due to strong iPhone 12 shipments. On another positive front, Apple's CEO is likely to mention that they shipped more than 1.5 million iPhone units in India in the quarter that ended in December, up 100% year-on-year, making this its best quarter in the world’s largest smartphone market to date, according to research firm Counterpoint.

Thanks to the improved sales of older generation iPhone 11, iPhone XR, iPhone 12 and the newer iPhone SE, Apple doubled its market share in India to 4% in the quarter, the research firms said.

Counterpoint's report specifically stated that "Apple captured the sixth spot in Q4 2020 with 171% YoY growth in Q4 and 93% YoY growth in 2020. The launch of the iPhone 12, aggressive offers on the iPhone SE 2020 and iPhone 11, and online expansion drove this growth. For the first time, the brand crossed 1.5 million shipments in a single quarter."

Counterpoint further stated that "In 2020, 5G smartphone shipments crossed 4 million units in India. These shipments were driven by two brands – OnePlus, the only brand with a 100% 5G portfolio, and Apple, which launched the iPhone 12 series with 5G connectivity. Going forward, 5G smartphone shipments are expected to increase by more than nine times to reach 38 million units in 2021."

Apple suppliers Foxconn, Wistron and Pegatron are planning to expand iPhone production in India throughout 2021. The Indian government has provided Apple's supply chain partners with incentives to set up manufacturing in India that promotes India as a global manufacturing hub.