Apple CEO Sees India at ‘Tipping Point’ as China Pivot Quickens
(Bloomberg) -- Apple Inc. chief Tim Cook singled out India on Thursday as pivotal for the iPhone maker, underscoring how the world's most populous country is on the cusp 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 an conference call after unveiling earnings. The company posted record sales for a March quarter in India, reflecting its increasing reliance on the market to galvanize overall growth.
“There are lot of people coming into the middle class and I really feel that India is at a tipping point,” Cook told analysts on the call. “And the dynamism in the market. The vibrancy is unbelievable.”
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 India revenue in its earnings statements, but Bloomberg News has reported Apple posted almost $6 billion of sales there in the year through March.
It's also keen to tap an immense labor pool. Apple is exploring ways to reduce its reliance on China as tensions between Washington and Beijing continue to escalate. Its longtime 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.
Read more: Apple Looks Beyond China in Bid to Remake Cook's Supply Chains
More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com
©2023 Bloomberg L.P.
-
Ten Things I Learnt This Samvat
Patience can be a trap. Cheap stocks can stay cheap. Leverage can wipe you out. What did Samvat 2082 teach us? Niraj Shah writes on 10 lessons from the year gone by.
-
Talking Points This Week: Tech Nerves, FII Buying, And A Faraway Banking Shock
The global markets are not shining this Diwali. The exception in the large markets is, India.
-
Midterm Rally Lasted A Day. The Hard Reality Of A Divided US May Last Two Years | Opinion
Between a contested AI boom, a debt ceiling that arrives in 2027 and a president with every incentive to act alone, the next two years may prove more volatile than the first day's rally suggests.
-
Blue Wave Will Derail the AI Trade but Won't Dismantle the AI Era | Unhedged Position
The Democrats' sweep of the US Congress will see politics collide with economic forces both over the long and short term.
-
It's Time To Take The GST Council's Bet On Trust Global
Payment records can prove India's services exports, and clear, proportionate rules can bring foreign digital sellers into the tax net.
-
Opinion | India at 38: From Innovation Overperformer to Innovation Powerhouse
India now has 453 VC-backed deep science startups, 18 of them late-stage, after 117 percent growth since 2020. Laurus Labs, at USD 9.3 billion, is the most valuable deep science company in any middle-income economy outside China.
-
Navigating Energy Crossroads: S Jaishankar's Call For Diversified Supply Chains At G20 Ministerial Meeting
As geopolitical fault lines continue to test maritime trade routes and commodity flows, Jaishankar's message remains pertinent: true economic resilience requires open markets, protected transit lines, and a genuine commitment to multilateral cooperation rather than coercion.
-
Indians Are Travelling, But Not Every Journey Is A Holiday | The Week In Whys
Pilgrims, patients and working women are the real travellers, and the system hasn't quite caught up with them.
-
Getting To Work Costs Women More | The Reason Why
It is not just about women paying more than men. It is about women paying much more in cities than in villages.
