New Delhi/New York: Tech giant Apple saw its revenues from India doubling year-on-year in the September quarter on strong sales of iPhones and iPads, a top company official today said.
“We were especially happy to return to growth in greater China, where revenue was up 12 per cent from a year ago and with our momentum in India, where revenue doubled year-over-year,” Apple Chief Financial Officer Luca Maestri said on an investor call.
Strong growth across markets like Mexico, the Middle East and Turkey fueled the overall growth of over 20 per cent from emerging markets, he added. The Cupertino-based company posted 12 per cent increase in the July-September quarter revenue to USD 52.6 billion, beating market estimates.
Talking about the India market, Apple CEO Tim Cook said growing a market like India is a result of building stores, channels, markets and the developer ecosystem. “It’s having the right product lineup for the market. And I feel like we’re making good progress there and are gaining understanding of the market, but we still have a long way to go, which I sort of see as an opportunity instead of a problem,” he added.
Apple has been sharpening its focus on the Indian market, which is among the world’s biggest smartphone markets dominated by its rival, Samsung. While Apple has a small share here given its premium play, it has been expanding presence in the country. Apple also started local production of its iPhone SE in May this year through a partnership with Taiwanese contract manufacturer Wistron.
Cook said he felt “great” about the growth rate in India and hoped that manufacturing in India “winds up saving some amount of money over time and avoiding some of the compounding of taxes”. He pointed that with operators like Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio investing in the telecom infrastructure, the service in India is materially better than it was 12 months ago.
“So there’s been a sea change there in a short period of time. So I feel good about all that, but we have a long way to go,” he added. In the September quarter, Apple sold 46.7 million iPhones. For iPads, unit sales were up 39 per cent year-on-year in India. Maestri said there was a “double digit iPhone growth” in many emerging markets including mainland China, India and Mexico.
