- Apple Inc’s results beat expectations, showing off the tech giant’s resilience in a slowing global economy.
- Shares of the largest U.S. company by market value rose 2% after Apple exceeded Wall Street’s expectations for revenue and profit for the April 1 quarter.
- iPhone sales were up 1.5% to $51.3 billion, besting expectations for a 3.3% drop even as consumers and businesses tightened up spending due to rising inflation.
- Apple Inc chief Tim Cook singled out India as pivotal for the iPhone maker, underscoring how the world’s most populous country is on the tip of becoming both a major market and production base.
- The company posted record sales for the March quarter in India, reflecting its increasing reliance on the market to galvanize overall growth.
- Apple is exploring ways to reduce its reliance on China as tensions between Washington and Beijing continue to escalate.
Apple Inc‘s results beat expectations, showing off the tech giant’s resilience in a slowing global economy thanks to better-than-expected iPhone sales and notable inroads in India and other newer markets. Apple executives said gross profit margins for the current quarter would be better than forecast despite an expected dip in revenue as supply-chain issues have improved.
Shares of the largest U.S. company by market value rose 2% after Apple exceeded Wall Street’s expectations for revenue and profit for the April 1 quarter. The company’s results contrast with disappointing figures out of big chipmakers due to a slower-than-expected rebound in China’s economic growth.
iPhone sales were up 1.5% to $51.3 billion, besting expectations for a 3.3% drop even as consumers and businesses tightened up spending due to rising inflation. Global smartphone shipments fell 13% during the first three months of 2023, according to research firm Canalys, which said Apple gained market share against Android rivals.
Chief Financial Officer Luca Maestri said Apple’s gross margin will be between 44% and 44.5%, above estimates of 43.7%, according to Refinitiv data. But he also said Apple’s revenue will likely decline slightly. Apple’s stock has outperformed most of Wall Street in 2023, up 28% year-to-date. Investors see the company as a defensive play during a time of economic uncertainty.
Apple CEO Tim Cook told the leading news agency, in an interview on Thursday that the company set a fiscal second-quarter record for iPhone sales, thanks in part to picking up new users in markets such as India, where Cook recently traveled for the opening of that country’s first Apple stores. “We were thrilled by our performance in emerging markets,” Cook said. “We set records for the iPhone installed base in every geographic segment, and we had very strong ‘new to’ (sales in) emerging markets, particularly in Brazil, India and Mexico.”
Apple Inc chief Tim Cook singled out India as pivotal for the iPhone maker, underscoring how the world’s most populous country is on the tip of becoming both a major market and production base.
Cook, who presided over the opening of Apple’s first two Indian retail outlets last month, joined his lieutenants in mentioning India roughly 20 times on a conference call after unveiling earnings. The company posted record sales for the March quarter in India, reflecting its increasing reliance on the market to galvanize overall growth.
Apple seeks to accelerate growth in a country of 1.4 billion where rising incomes are boosting consumer spending, at a time smartphone sales are plateauing elsewhere in the world. The company doesn’t break out Indian revenue in its earnings statements, but a news agency has reported Apple posted almost $6 billion of sales there in the year through March.
Apple is exploring ways to reduce its reliance on China as tensions between Washington and Beijing continue to escalate. Its long-time partners, who make most of the world’s iPhones from sprawling factories in China, have added assembly lines at a rapid pace over the past year.
(With inputs from agencies)
