Estimation question
How many iPhones were sold in India in 2022?
- Microsoft
- Estimation
- Easy
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What this question tests
Structured estimation of a national product sales figure using population, income segment and market share assumptions.
How to approach it
- Estimate India's population, around 1.4 billion, and the smartphone owning population, roughly 700 to 750 million.
- Estimate the premium smartphone segment able to afford an iPhone, a smaller slice, perhaps 5 to 8 percent of smartphone owners.
- Apply Apple's approximate market share within that premium segment, and an annual replacement or new buyer rate.
- Multiply through to reach an estimated annual unit sales figure for 2022.
- Sanity check the number against India being a growing but still small share of Apple's global sales.
What a strong answer includes
- Builds the estimate top down through population, affordability, and Apple share, stating each ratio explicitly.
- Lands on a plausible range, for example 6 to 8 million units, rather than one falsely precise number.
- Notes India's iPhone sales were smaller than China's or the US's at the time, as a sanity check on scale.
Common mistakes
- Overestimating the affordable, premium smartphone segment in a price sensitive market.
- Giving a single overly precise number without a range or sanity check.
Likely follow-up questions
- How would this estimate change over the next five years given India's income growth?
- How would you validate this with real data?
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Learn the skill behind it
Chapters of the AI PM course that teach what this question tests.
- Chapter 2: Data fluency: SQL, logs, and reading the truth yourself
- Chapter 9: Prove it paid off: outcomes, economics, and pricing
- Chapter 14: Get the job: the AI PM interview loop