In India, new iPhone 18 Pro models arrive via 10-minute delivery apps

The phones were also available through Apple’s usual sales channels, including Apple stores, authorized retailers and online marketplaces. The launch-day availability through quick-commerce platforms followed a pattern in India, where apps best known for groceries have expanded into electronics, beauty products and fashion and have previously offered new Apple devices on launch day.

The market behind the deliveries is growing rapidly. India’s quick-commerce sector reached about $9 billion in the first half of 2026, according to Redseer Strategy Consultants. Monthly users rose to more than 60 million from 8 million three years earlier. Google and Deloitte separately estimate the market could reach $50 billion by 2030, with non-food categories such as electronics, fashion and beauty accounting for 45% of spending.

BigBasket said it delivered more than 300 iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max units in the first hour of sales. Instamart told TechCrunch that Bengaluru led iPhone 18 Pro-series orders on its platform, followed by Delhi. The Burgundy 256 GB iPhone 18 Pro was Instamart’s most popular variant, accounting for nearly a third of its sales.

Within hours of the launch, however, availability became patchy. TechCrunch found the iPhone 18 Pro models sold out on some quick-commerce platforms and in some locations, while they remained available for delivery elsewhere in cities including Delhi and Bengaluru.

Tarun Pathak, research director at Counterpoint Research, said the launch-day deliveries showed that quick commerce could work as a channel for premium smartphones in India’s biggest cities, even though volumes remain small compared with overall iPhone sales. The ability to fulfill high-value smartphone orders provides an 'early proof of concept,' Pathak told TechCrunch. 'The key question is whether this launch-driven demand can translate into regular smartphone purchases through quick-commerce platforms.'

Navkendar Singh, associate vice president at IDC, said India stood out globally for this kind of quick-commerce delivery and was particularly suited to such purchases because consumers in major cities had built trust in the platforms by using them regularly for everyday purchases. Official tie-ups between brands and the platforms also gave consumers greater confidence in buying expensive products through them, he told TechCrunch. For a product like the iPhone, the appeal also comes down to 'instant gratification,' Singh said, allowing buyers to avoid queues outside stores or waiting several days for an online order to arrive. Still, he cautioned that quick commerce was not yet a significant sales channel for smartphones. Its role around new iPhone releases is largely a 'launch-day marketing phenomenon' that 'creates good noise around the launch,' he said.