Apple is thriving in China by leaps and bounds, making its presence felt in the world’s most crowded country. The company reported on Monday that for the first time demands of its iPhone smartphones in greater China has peak the demands of its gadgets in its native U.S market. The sales in China rose 71 percent to $16.8 billion in the fiscal second quarter, up from the same period of the previous year. China also lagged Europe in revenue race.
Overall revenue grew 27 percent to $58 billion conquering the $45.6 billion mark set by company last year, according to company’s earnings report. Profit segment also up surged $13.6 billion from $10.2 billion a year ago.
“Everything you look at in China was extremely good,” Timothy D. Cook, Apple’s chief executive, told analysts in the company’s earnings call. “We’re really proud of the results there and continue to invest in the country.”
Apple over a long period of time has been seeking for means to ramp up its sales activity in China which it succeeded to achieve and there upon the party begins for Apple as its revenue growth progressively gained momentum. In late 2013, the Apple reached a deal with China Mobile, world’s largest phone carrier, regarding retailing of iPhones. Apple has 21 retail stores in China and it plans to increase that number to 40 amid 2016.
Other factors which bolstered the sales of iPhones in China include Chinese New Year holiday, particularly a season of big sales activity, which was in February. Chinese people are much attracted towards bigger screens and the latest Apple iPhones fulfills this requirement of Chinese customers.
“It’s hugely important because it shows that Apple continues to be the only major U.S. tech company that is really succeeding in China, in contrast to Google, Microsoft and Amazon,” Mr. Dawson said, an independent technology analyst for Jackdaw Research.
iPhone sales posted a better-than-expected results reaching 61.2 million mark, bested the estimation of 60 million sales. Apple sold 43.7 million iPhones in the same period of the earlier year. Analysts’ had predicted that iPhone demands would increment impulsively, particularly due to the growing demands of its products in China. More people are trusting on iPhones than Android smartphones, according to Apple.
But iPad sales dropped for the 5th straight quarter. 12.6 million iPads were sold by Apple in the quarter compared with 16.4 million tablets sold a year ago. Apple’s tablet loses its grip over audience over the last year because people don’t upgrade tablets as rapidly as they upgrade their iPhones. The augmentation of Apple’s iPhone display size further minimized the demand for tablets.
Apple also retailed 4.6 million Mac computers in the quarter, outpacing 4.1 million units sold a year ago. According to CEO of Apple, Mac computer sales in China bolstered 31 percent from a year ago.
Apple released earnings results after the launch of its Watch, which started dispatching to customers of nine countries on Friday. Mr. Cook said demand for Apple Watch exceeds its production limit.
Mr. Cook further illustrated that Apple was especially satisfy with the improvement in software apps offering on Apple Watch. App Store has over 3,500 apps that are supportable with Watch, initially when the App Store launched in 2008, only 500 apps were available for the iPhone.
“We couldn’t be happier about how things are going,” Mr. Cook said about apps for the watch, adding that customer response so far seemed to be “100 percent positive.”
Apple said on Monday it increased its cash stockpile by 50 percent to $200 billion by the end of March 2017, regarding its capital return program. Apple is also raising cash to $140 billion from $90 billion for a share buyback program and also boosting the dividends of shareholders.
