The United States-headquartered company reported revenue of $89.5 billion for the quarter to September, down less than 1% year-on-year, with iPhone sales contributing $43.8 billion.
Apple set record revenues for iPhones in India, among other emerging markets. Cook said iPhone revenue came in ahead of the company’s expectations, setting an “all-time record” in India, among quarterly records in other markets.
“It’s (India) an incredibly exciting market for us, and a major focus of ours. We have a low share in a large market. And so it would seem that there’s a lot of headroom there,” Cook said during the post-earnings investor call held Friday.
Apple’s highest quarterly revenue in India comes on the back of strong iPhone sales in the July to September period. The company recorded its highest ever quarterly shipments during the period, according to Counterpoint Research. Apple recorded 34% on-year growth experiencing a high growth phase in India. The same period also marked the best quarter for Apple’s shipments in the country, which crossed 2.5 million units.
Cook said the average selling prices (ASPs) in India is lower than other geographies, but it does not bother Apple. Chief financing officer, Luca Maestri said that one of the things that has done well for the company’s margins is to “offer more affordable solutions to our customers in the form of installment plans, trade-in options, and low cost financing in general.”“In terms of similarity, I would say each country has its own journey. And I wouldn’t want to play the comparison game but we see an extraordinary market. A lot of people are moving into the middle class. Distribution is getting better. Lots of positives,” Cook said, adding that the two retail stores Apple launched in Mumbai and New Delhi earlier this year are doing better than expected. “It’s still early going but they’re off to a good start. And I couldn’t be happier with how things are going at the moment,” Cook said.Apple reported a decline in revenue on all product categories except iPhone which grew 3% on-year, and services where the company saw a whopping 16% on-year growth in revenues, driven by over a billion paid customers for its services that includes cloud storage, music streaming, movies and shows, and fitness coaching.
Maestri said Apple has an installed base of over 2 billion active devices, which “continues to grow at a nice pace and establishes a solid foundation for the future expansion of our ecosystem.”
Revenues from Macs and iPads saw a drastic decline. Mac revenue was down 34% on-year, driven by challenging market conditions and a higher base last year. iPad revenues were down 10% on-year, also due to a higher base arising out of pent-up demand from the previous quarter getting fulfilled in the September quarter last year.
