India Takes Centre Stage in Apple’s Latest Earnings Call: 7 Key Takeaways

Apple reported record-breaking financial results for its fiscal first quarter endin December, with total revenue of $143.8 billion, up 16 percent year over year. Net income reached $42.1 billion, and diluted earnings per share hit $2.84, up 19 percent from the prior year. The company highlighted strong demand for iPhone, which generated $85.3 billion in revenue, up 23 percent year over year, and services revenue of $30 billion, up 14 percent. In India, Apple achieved strong double-digit revenue growth, set quarterly revenue records for several products, and continued to expand its retail presence.

India was in the spotlight during the earnings call today, and both the executives mentioned the country several times, testifying that the market is extremely important to them in the coming years.

Here are some of the notable places where Apple CEO Tim Cook and CFO Kevan Pareksh mentioned India an asserting that it is an important market for them.

1. Strong double-digit revenue growth in India

Tim Cook stated, "We set all-time revenue records in The Americas, Europe, Japan, and the rest of Asia Pacific and grew in the vast majority of markets we track. We continue to gain momentum in emerging markets, which includes India, where we saw strong double-digit revenue growth."

Kevan Parekh also reiterated the same thing, "Across the world, we set all-time revenue records in both developed and emerging markets. And we saw double-digit growth year over year across the majority of the markets we track, including The US, Latin America, Western Europe, Greater China, India, and South Asia."

2. Quarterly revenue records in India

Tim Cook said, "We did set a quarterly revenue record during December. And to go a little further down, we set quarterly revenue records on iPhone and Mac and iPad. And an all-time revenue record on services."

Kevan Parekh mentioned, "iPhone saw strength around the world, reaching all-time revenue records in many of the markets we track, including The US, Greater China, Latin America, Western Europe, The Middle East, Australia, and South Asia, as well as a December record in India."

3. 'We could not be more excited about India'

Tim Cook remarked, "So it was a terrific quarter in India. We really like what we see there. It is the second-largest smartphone market in the world. And the fourth-largest PC market. So and we still have, despite a very nice growth history, we have modest share there. And so we think there is a huge opportunity for us there. And we could not be more excited about it."

4. Many new customers in India

Tim Cook highlighted, "If you look at the other thing that I would point out is that the majority of customers that are buying iPhones and Mac and iPad and Watch are all new to that product. And so it speaks very well to the opportunity there."

5. iPhone installed base and upgraders in India

Kevan Parekh stated, "The iPhone active installed base grew to an all-time high and set a new all-time record for upgraders in aggregate and across many countries, including The US, China Mainland, Japan, and India."

Kevan Parekh noted, "Aaron, had you mentioned the installed base, we are seeing strong double-digit growth in the installed base in India as well, which is really encouraging."

6. India saw growth in sales for the Mac lineup as well

Kevan Parekh said, "As we described in the last call, we faced a very difficult comparison against an M4 MacBook Pro, Mac Mini, and iMac launches in the year-ago quarter. Despite this difficult comparison, we continued to see growth in several emerging markets, including Brazil, India, Malaysia, Vietnam, and more."

7. Retail expansion in India

Tim Cook mentioned, "We were excited to open our fifth store in India in December and have plans to open another store in Mumbai soon."