Apple's Business In India Doubled In Last Quarter, But Still Low: Tim Cook

Apple doubled its business in India last quarter compared to the year-ago quarter. "If you take India for example, we doubled our business last quarter compared to a year-ago quarter," , Apple CEO Tim Cook said. He, however, pointed out that Apple's business in India is still quite low relative to the size of the opportunity and setting up retail stores in the future in the country will be a great initiative.

Apple for the first time doubled its smartphone market share in India to nearly 4 per cent in the festive quarter of 2020. Apple registered over 60 per cent growth (year-on-year) in its India business in calendar year 2020, while for the festive quarter, the growth was an impressive 100 per cent on a year-on-year basis.

Referring to Apple's efforts in the Indian market, Mr Cook said, "There are several markets, as I alluded to before. India is one of those, where our share is quite low. It did improve from the year-ago quarter. Our business roughly doubled over that period of time. And so we feel very good about the trajectory."

Mr Cook added that Apple is taking a number of initiatives to expand its India operations, including starting an online store and planning to open retail stores in the future.

"We put the online store there, for example, and last quarter was the first full quarter of the online store. And that has gotten a great reaction to it and has helped us achieve the results that we got to last quarter."  Mr Cook said.

Apple had launched the Apple Store online in India on September 23, offering Apple's full range of products and support directly to customers across the country for the first time.

"We're also going in there (India) with retail stores in the future. And so we look for that to be another great initiative and we continue to develop the channel as well," Mr Cook added.

Tim Cook highlighted that iPhone ownership is restricted, not only in India, but also in the developed markets. "We really don't have a significant share in any market. So, there's headroom left even in those developed markets where you might hear that."

But Apple Inc still cornered nearly a quarter of the global smartphone market in the fourth quarter, making it the world's biggest seller. Data from research firm IDC showed Apple's shipments surged 22 per cent to 90.1 million phones in the quarter, giving it global market share of 23.4 per cent, and marking a record for the company.

Meanwhile, Apple announced financial results for the first quarter ended December 26, 2020. The company posted all-time record revenue of USD 111.4 billion, up 21 per cent year over year. International sales accounted for 64 per cent of the quarter's revenue.

Apple's iPhone 12 series, released last October, marked its first 5G-enabled device.