“I would point out that we’re investing in China, not for next quarter or the quarter after, we’re investing for the decades ahead”, CEO Tim Cook said on Apple’s earnings call Tuesday.
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Crucially, sales in China, which is Apple’s second-largest market behind North America, grew 99 percent – even as the economy continued to face struggles there.
The Apple Watch sales were not broken out, but in the other products category, which includes the watch, quarterly sales were $3 billion. It posted revenue of $51.5 billion compared to Street consensus of $51 billion and earnings-per-share (EPS) of $1.96 per share versus analysts’ estimate of $1.88 a share.
He also expects Apple to have a very happy holiday season: This quarter, Cook said Apple will likely sell a record number of iPhones, besting the 74.5 million iPhones sold during the last three months of 2014.
The extended distribution of its smartwatch and the continued growth in iPhone sales have helped Apple to an end-of-year revenue increase, resulting in a record year for the business. Cook said in an interview earlier this year that iPad owners were hanging onto their tablets for much longer periods, compared to their iPhones, which is why sales are in decline.
Concerns about China’s growth have rocked financial markets of late, after a string of gloomy economic data and a stock market plunge.
Apple sold 48 million iPhones in the September quarter, a rise of 22 per cent from a year ago. Overall, this segment reported revenues of $32.20 billion for the quarter, registering a 35.98% growth from $23.68 billion in the corresponding quarter a year ago. In Q4 2015, over 30 % customers who purchased an iPhone last quarter switched from an Android device.
The iPhone’s continuing success does not extend to the iPad.
Apple continues to ride the wave of the growing middle class in China with the tech giant posting a new record quarterly profit.
However, Apple remained quiet about the performance of the Apple Watch and the iPad. Given Apple’s fourth-quarter results, it’s not surprising that its shares are little changed.
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Apple reported $5 billion in revenue from “services” including the iTunes store, Apple Pay and its Apple Care extended warranty program.
