Apple has reported its earnings for the FY-Q2 of 2016. As always, you can expect a ton of billions and millions thrown in there. While overall, Apple posted revenue figures of $50.6 billion with a net profit of $10.5 billion. Sales were generally down across all categories with Apple selling ‘only’ 51.2 million iPhones, a 16% down from the 61.2 million that they sold in the corresponding quarter last financial year. Despite the revenues falling for the first time since 2003, Apple remains upbeat about the performance of the emerging markets when it comes to sales as well as those switching from rival platforms, largely Android.
One of the emerging markets that Tim Cook singled out is India, stating that Apple saw 56% growth YoY in the corresponding quarter. Tim was also bullish on the market performance in the future saying that they plan to have several exclusive plans for the market, and plan to cash in as the popularity of LTE continues to drive the growth of the iPhone in India. He stated:
As we look at switchers, we’re extremely excited that for the first half we set a record from switchers from other platforms, the largest we’ve ever seen in any six-month period before, so we’ve got traction there. And then on emerging markets, if you take a look at India, we grew by 56%, and we’re placing increasing emphasis in these areas, where it’s clear there will be disproportionate growth versus the more developed areas.
And so the infrastructure is one key. The second one is building the channel out. Unlike the U.S., as an example, where the carriers in the U.S. sell the vast majority of phones that are sold in the United States, in India the carriers in general sell virtually no phones. And so it’s out in retail, and retail is many, many different small shops.
And so we’ve been in the process – it’s not something that we just started in the last few weeks. We’ve been working in India now for a couple of years or more, but we’ve been working with great energy over the last 18 months or so, and I’m encouraged by the results that we’re beginning to see there, and believe there’s a lot, lot more there. It is already the third largest smartphone market in the world. But because the smartphones that are working there are low end, primarily because of the network and the economics, the market potential has not been as great there. But I view India as where China was maybe seven to ten years ago from that point of view, and I think there’s a really great opportunity there.
Clear to see that the growth in, general has been slow for Apple, and that is why perhaps the iPhone 7 and the next iPad or the Apple Watch 2 would need to make a serious dent and leave everyone speechless with what they offer otherwise it would not be a surprise to see the not so pleasant words of Jia Yueting of LeEco come true.