We set June quarter records in India driven by robust iPhone sales: Tim Cook

Apple has set a June quarter records in India, driven by the robust sales of iPhones, its CEO Tim Cook has said.

During the company’s fiscal 2023 third quarter results late on Thursday, Cook said that the performance of “our new stores in India this spring exceeded our expectations”.

Apple opened its own-branded Mumbai and Delhi retail stores in the country in April this year, which met with great enthusiasm.

On a specific question on the potential of India, Cook said: “You know we did hit a June quarter revenue record in India and we grew strong double digits. We also opened our first two retail stores during the quarter and of course it’s early going currently, but they are currently beating our expectations in terms of how they are doing”.

He further said that the company continues to work on building out the channel and putting more investment in its direct-to-consumer offers in the country. 

“If you look at it, it’s the second largest smartphone market in the world and we ought to be doing really well there and we are very pleased with our growth there,” said Cook 

“We still have a very, very modest and low share in this smartphone market, so I think it’s a huge opportunity for us. And we are putting in all of our energies to make that occur,” he added.

Apple, with the highest average selling price (ASP) of $929, registered a massive 61 per cent YoY growth in India in April-June period, according to the IDC.

India is now among Apple’s top 5 markets globally as the iPhone maker continued to lead the ultra-premium segment (Rs 45,000 and above).

The company has also broken local manufacturing records. In May, iPhone exports reached a record Rs 10,000 crore, pushing the total mobile shipments from the country to Rs 12,000 crore in that month. 

India is set to cross Rs 1,20,000 crore in mobile phone exports in the current fiscal year driven by tech giant Apple.

According to the India Cellular and Electronics Association (ICEA), Apple's market share is set to exceed 50 per cent in FY24.

Last month, Apple joined global non-profit Acumen in a new effort to improve livelihoods in India through clean energy innovation.

Luca Maestri, Apple’s CFO, said that the company set an all-time revenue record for iPhone in India.

“We set June quarter records and revenue growth in double digits for iPhone in India with a very strong performance there,” Maestri told the analysts.

Apple posted quarterly revenue of $81.8 billion, down 1 percent year over year.

“We are happy to report that we had an all-time revenue record in Services during the June quarter, driven by over 1 billion paid subscriptions, and we saw continued strength in emerging markets thanks to robust sales of iPhone,” said Cook.

During the quarter, “we generated very strong operating cash flow of $26 billion, returned over $24 billion to our shareholders, and continued to invest in our long-term growth plans,” Maestri added.