Why Apple's biggest market may lie in Andhra

Andhra Pradesh contributes nearly 10% to Apple's iPhone sales in India. However, CMR MXpresso Mobilytiks says that the state still "has the requisite socio-economic profile for further growth of the iphone market." 

Which means, there is still potential for the demand for iPhones to grow in the state. 

It is perhaps for this reason that Apple CEO Tim Cook has announced the company's first R&D centre to be opened in Hyderabad on his maiden visit to the country, the CMR MXpresso Mobilytiks says.

Andhra Pradesh has a significant user base where the socio-economic profile of the population is favourable for a premium segment smartphone like iPhone, it said. 

This is apart from the obvious fact that Andhra's already 10% contribution to Apple iPhone's sales is "catalyzed by the tech-savvy IT workforce that has close affinity to a phone like iPhone.

The state has a sufficiently large GSM subscriber base, representing 7% of the total 774 million GSM users, COAI data shows.

Apart from Andhra Pradesh, among the top ten circles in the country, Maharashtra (excluding Mumbai) and Gujarat contribute 15% to iPhone sales. 

Maharashtra (excluding Mumbai) and Gujarat also have a significant user base where the socio-economic profile is favorable for iPhone sales, the report said. For these states, a majority of the sales comes from Pune, Nagpur, Ahmedabad, Surat and Vadodara.