That used to be correct in the past but things have changed here a lot. There is a growing population of the middle class. Nothing compared to what is there in the developed countries but nonetheless with some significant purchasing power.

The mean income of the 90th percentile in India in 2004 was about 113 USD a month.[1] In the next 4 years the GDP has increased ~4x. [2]

Now even if we assume (I don't have data from a study on this) the 90th percentile income doubled, it leaves them with 226 USD a month.

I can say from personal experience that is a modest assumption. My own salary has increased 40x in this time period. If you consider my friends (a sample space of 30) whose salary I keep track, the average increase is around 20x.

Now it is very reasonable (as the phone has become a very personal "being") to assume that someone in this income will spend a month of their salary on their phone.

Now that is a market size of 120 million people and increasing.

On a personal note, I run a operations company of ~40 people and their average salary is ~300 USD a month and everyone has a phone that costs more than 200USD.

So I think it's reasonable to assume Apple is still missing the bus.

[1] https://ihds.umd.edu/sites/default/files/publications/pdf-fi...

[2] https://www.google.com/publicdata/explore?ds=d5bncppjof8f9_&...