Last week Patently Apple posted a statistics report titled "Apple was the Global Leader in Refurbished Smartphones in 2022, taking a Whopping 49% Market Share Year-over-Year." Today we're learning that demand for Apple's refurbished iPhones in India has almost quadrupled in the last year from 3% in 2021 to 11+% in 2022, according to Counterpoint Research.

Apple already has high hopes for the future growth of the Indian market and is preparing to capture more of the local market share. Last month, Apple CEO Tim Cook personally went to India to attend the opening of two directly-operated stores and met with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. In order to reduce its dependence on mainland China, Apple is also setting up a new manufacturing base in India.

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In terms of new phones, the iPhone’s market share in India’s new mobile phone market grew to 5% last year, up from 1% in 2019. Demand for iPhones in India has been constrained by high prices, experts say, with a new model costing 80,000 rupees, or nearly $1,000.

In the second-hand smartphone market in India, consumers are showing unprecedented levels of interest in the iPhone, opening the way for the promotion of Apple's other products and services.

Glen Cardoza, an analyst at Counterpoint in Mumbai, said second-hand iPhones are super hot, with sales growing by four times the global average.

Harshit Pandey, a senior consultant at Redseer Strategy Consultants, said that Apple is a brand with a much higher resale value, and an iPhone can be "passed through three or four hands" before it becomes obsolete.

Deven Meher, head of sales at Prowesses Enterprises in Mumbai, which sells refurbished second-hand Apple products, said, “Customers who want to buy an iPhone in the future, usually buyers of second-hand phones, try it first and learn how to use it.”

Analysts say the iPhone's popularity in the second-hand market is partly due to being more durable than competitors' products; half of the world's second-hand phone market is iPhone.

The sales prospects of the new iPhone in India are actually good. Apple is the only major player that is believed to be able to grow its global shipments of smartphones this year, because of the potential of the Indian market. Counterpoint estimates that iPhone shipments to India will "grow significantly" by 31% this year, while mainland China is expected to grow by only 2%, and the US will see no growth.