Apple logs $61.1 bn quarterly global revenues, record India growth

SAN FRANCISCO: As Apple posted a healthy revenue of $61.1 billion and net quarterly profit of $13.8 billion globally for its second quarter for fiscal 2018, defying global reports of a weakened demand for its iphones, CEO Tim Cook said the Cupertino-based tech giant has set a new first-half record in India.

In the first quarter of 2018 in India, Apple was at the third spot with 20 per cent market share in the premium smartphone category, according to market research firm Counterpoint Research.

In the fourth quarter of 2017, Apple led with a 46.9 per cent share of the premium segment, while Oneplus and Samsung trailed with 24.9 per cent and 17.6 per cent respectively.

Apple's quarterly revenue of $61.1 globally billion was an increase of 16 per cent from the year-ago quarter and international sales accounted for 65 per cent of the quarter's revenue.

"We're thrilled to report our best March quarter ever, with strong revenue growth in iphone, services and wearables," Cook said in a statement.

"Customers chose iphone X more than any other iphone each week in the March quarter, just as they did following its launch in the December quarter.

"We also grew revenue in all of our geographic segments, with over 20 per cent growth in Greater China and Japan," he said. As global handset profits dipped 1 per cent (year-on-year) in the fourth quarter of 2017, Apple X alone generated 35 per cent of the total handset industry profits, helping the iphone maker grow 1 per cent (YOY) in the same quarter. Apple also announced $100 billion in additional stock buybacks.

"Given our confidence in Apple's future, we are very happy to announce that our Board has approved a new $100 billion share repurchase authorization and a 16 per cent increase in our quarterly dividend," said Luca Maestri, Apple's CFO.

The iphone maker reported $13 billion in revenue from Greater China.

"China, I continue to believe is a phenomenal country with lots of opportunity from a market point of view, but also lots of opportunity from an app developer's point of view," Cook said during the earnings call.

"We have almost two million application developers in China that are writing apps for IOS and the App Store, and they're doing unbelievably creative work and innovative work. So we look at China holistically, not only as a market," he noted.

Apple will complete the execution of the previous $210 billion share repurchase authorisation during the third fiscal quarter.

"Our business performed extremely well during the March quarter, as we grew earnings per share by 30 per cent and generated over $15 billion in operating cash flow," said Maestri. NEW YORK: Apple is bullish on India and plans to launch all its initiatives, including retail, in the country where it has an "extremely low" overall market share, the tech giant's CEO Tim Cook has said.

India, the third largest smartphone market in the world, has huge opportunities for Apple, Cook said.

"We have extremely low share in that market overall," Cook said during Apple's second quarter 2018 earnings call on Tuesday.

Cook said Apple was "putting a lot of energy" in India and working with the carriers in the market, and "they're investing enormously on the LTE (Longterm Evolution) networks."

He noted that the infrastructure in India has come "quite a ways" since Apple began to put a lot of energy in the Indian market "because of their leadership and so forth." Cook said in India, Apple set a new firsthalf record. "So we continue to put great energy there and try to our objective over time is to go in there with all of our different initiatives from retail and everything else. And so we're working toward those things," he said.

Describing India as a "huge market", Cook said many people will be moving into the middle class over time in the country, referring to the tremendous consumer opportunity that presents to global companies.

Cook was asked if he feels the iphone market is saturated and not much room is left for growth even as potential exists in emerging markets like India.

"I don't buy the view that market's saturated. I don't see that from a market point of view or and certainly not from an iphone point of view," he replied.