Apple has seen record sales in emerging markets including India during the fourth quarter ended in September 2019. “We established new Q4 records in many major developed and emerging markets, including the US, Canada, Germany, France, Korea, Singapore, Brazil, India, Thailand, Malaysia and Vietnam,” Tim Cook, CEO, Apple said while announcing the quarterly numbers.
The record sales have been largely driven by Mac, not the iPhone. “We generate an all-time revenue record for Mac in the US and in India, and a fourth-quarter rate of revenue record in Japan,” Cook said.
Apple's growth in India
In the previous quarter, ended in June, Apple had said that it has bounced back to growth in India. “In emerging markets, we returned to growth in mainland China, grew strong double digits in India and in Brazil, and we set new Q3 records in Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines," Cook had said during the earnings call after the third quarter.
Apple’s India revenues have been choppy since the time of the launch of iPhone X as existing iPhone users delayed purchases and new ones found it hard to pay the high price of the new devices. Sales of iPhones have declined over 50 per cent in the past year.
But in the last quarter, Apple finally pulled its socks up and started focussing on the Indian market with special pricing, promotions and e-commerce push. According to Counterpoint Research, Apple sales in India grew 22 per cent in the April-June quarter on the back of this aggressive sales push.
Read more:A renewed India focus gets Apple India back on growth path
According to Law and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, Apple is looking to invest in India in a big way. The Government has been exhorting Apple to expand manufacturing base in India and use the country as an export hub.
Also read:Apple is coming to India in a big way: Ravi Shankar Prasad
To cushion the impact of the ongoing trade war between the US and China on its business, iPhone-maker Apple wants to hedge its bets by shifting some of its manufacturing to India. However, the company also wants the Indian government to ensure a stable policy regime with sector-specific incentives to help it establish an export hub in the next 5-10 years.
During the fourth-quarter earnings calls, Cook also said that the ECG app, is now available in 32 markets, including India, “has become a widely celebrated illustration of Apple's commitment to your health, giving users the ability to document and monitor the functioning of their heart and provide critical data to their doctors,” he said.
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