NEW DELHI — Apple CEO Tim Cook said India remains a major growth opportunity for the company, pointing to the country’s expanding middle class, growing installed base and continued demand across Apple’s product categories.
The comments came after Apple reported March-quarter revenue records and double-digit growth in nearly every emerging market it tracks, including India.
“We set March quarter revenue records and grew double digits in every geographic segment including strong double-digit growth in Greater China and the rest of Asia-Pacific,” Cook said during the company’s analyst call.
“We also achieved March quarter revenue records in both developed and emerging markets and saw double-digit growth in nearly every emerging market we track, including India,” he added.
Cook said Apple was also pleased to open its sixth store in India, calling the country a key part of the company’s broader push to reach more customers in emerging markets.
“It has been wonderful to see how we’ve continued to grow in India in recent years, part of our larger efforts to connect with even more customers and emerging markets all over the world,” Cook said.
Asked about India’s rising middle class and the opportunity for iPhone growth, Cook said the market offers significant long-term potential.
“I think it’s a huge opportunity for us,” he said. “We’ve been focused on this for a while. It’s the second largest smartphone market in the world and the third-largest PC market, and despite doing extremely well there for quite some time we still have a modest share. And so I think that really speaks to the opportunity that we have.”
Cook said Apple is seeing many first-time buyers across its major product lines in India.
“There are a lot of people moving into the middle class there, and we’ve got some great products for them both currently and coming. And if you look at the majority of customers in all of our categories from the iPhone to the Mac to the iPad to the Watch, are new to that product there. And so it speaks very well to growing the installed base there. Net-net, I’m over the moon excited about India,” Cook said.
Apple reported iPhone revenue of $57 billion, up 22% from a year earlier, driven by the iPhone 17 family.
“iPhone grew double digits in the majority of markets we track, including the U.S., Latin America, Greater China, Western Europe, India, Japan, and Southeast Asia,” said Kevan Parekh, Apple’s chief financial officer.
Mac revenue rose 6% year over year to $8.4 billion, supported by recent product launches, including MacBook Neo.
“We grew in both developed and emerging markets, with double-digit growth in many emerging markets, including India and Indonesia,” Parekh said.
Apple said more than half of customers who bought an iPad during the quarter were new to the product. Many of those customers were in emerging markets, where iPad revenue grew by double digits, including in India, Mexico and Thailand.
The company also said U.S. customer satisfaction for iPad stood at 98%, citing the latest reports from 451 Research.
The earnings call also marked the debut of incoming Apple CEO John Ternus. (Source: IANS)
