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 17 July 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 ...