New Delhi, July 27 -- Apple's iPhone shipments into India fell for the first time in more than four years as shortages of the iPhone 17 squeezed supplies to retailers, interrupting one of the company's fastest-growing markets despite resilient consumer demand. A July 17 supply chain analysis by independent market research firm Counterpoint found that Apple's iPhone shipments in India fell 3% year-on-year in the April-June quarter, marking the first quarterly decline in nearly four years. Overall smartphone shipments to retail channels in India dropped 10% during the quarter, pushing Apple out of the country's top five smartphone brands for the period. The setback comes as Apple is leaning increasingly on India as a growth market. On 30 April, Tim Cook, Apple's outgoing chief executive, said India's performance had left him "over the moon excited." At the same time, the company has so far shielded the iPhone-its biggest revenue driver-from price increases, although it has warned that may not last. On June 17, Cook had told The Wall Street Journal that an eventual price hike even for iPhones would be "unavoidable". Apple raised prices of its Mac and iPad lineup on June 25 but left iPhone prices unchanged. For India's retailers, constrained iPhone supplies, the prospect of higher prices and a weakening smartphone market threaten to dull one of the few bright spots in consumer electronics. Market research firms International Data Corp. (IDC) and Counterpoint project a 12-15% decline in India's overall smartphone sales in 2026, potentially making this the weakest year for the Rs.4300 crore market since before the covid-19 pandemic. Apple's supply constraints could also weigh on its India performance this year, even as demand for premium smartphones remains intact. "Apple is likely to see a decline in device shipments during the June quarter. For the full year, Apple's sales will likely either remain flat or see a marginal growth-far slower than the way Apple has grown over the past few years. More than any other reason, this is because the supply of the iPhone 17 is very restricted-and even when Apple accommodates the rise in memory chip costs, an immediate resolution is unlikely-perhaps until as long as 2028," said Navkendar Singh, associate vice-president at IDC India. According to Singh, supplies of the iPhone 17 have remained constrained as memory chip suppliers renegotiate prices with Apple, slowing the company's ability to normalise shipments. "As chips get costlier, most vendors in the supply chain will renegotiate prices to ensure that they make the most of the higher prices even as the market normalizes by 2028. This renegotiation will take its due course of time, and in the meantime restrict supplies of the iPhone 17," Singh added. Three retailers in Delhi, Kolkata and Mumbai that Mint spoke with, each of whom requested anonymity citing non-disclosure agreements with Apple, said availability of Apple's base iPhone 17 model remains limited and that they expect price revisions soon. "Typically, Apple reduces the price of the outgoing iPhone by about Rs.10,000 as they launch a new one. This year, we're expecting a considerably different iPhone 18 lineup-and no such price reductions that fuel additional demand in September," one of the three retailers cited above said. A detailed email query sent to Apple India did not receive responses until press time. "The supply crunch for Apple's iPhone 17 has been persistent since the lineup launched in September last year, and continues to hit retailers across the country. A nominal price hike, especially for iPhones, is not that big a concern to be honest-since other brands have increased prices, consumers are happy to pay a small premium if they can get their hands on the iPhone 17," said Manish Khatri, partner at Mumbai-based retailer, Mahesh Telecom. Even with supplies constrained, analysts do not see demand for iPhones weakening. Tarun Pathak, director of research at Counterpoint, said demand for iPhones "is expected to remain steady through the year." "Buyers of premium smartphones have continued to keep the iPhone on their radar-even as other brands such as Samsung have increased prices due to memory chip cost pressures. Apple is very likely to finish the year in the top five brands list, but the quarterly record streak could take a hit due to disruptions right now," Pathak said. IDC India and Counterpoint expect Apple to sell 15 million iPhones this calendar year, up from 14 million in 2025 but marking a sharp slowdown from the rapid growth the company has enjoyed in recent years. Over the past eight years, Apple has expanded iPhone sales tenfold, growing at an annualized rate of 33% since 2019. The broader market, however, is moving in the opposite direction. IDC and Counterpoint expect smartphone shipments in India to decline by as much as 15% this calendar year to about 130 million units, the lowest since 2018. The slowdown has been building since India's smartphone market peaked at 161 million units in 2021. Analysts attribute the decline to longer replacement cycles, limited hardware innovation, inflation and broader economic uncertainty. This year, higher supply chain and manufacturing costs are expected to add to the pressure by pushing up prices....