Apple India saw record double-digit growth in the January to March 2024 quarter and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Tim Cook is “very very pleased”.
“I see it as an incredibly exciting market and it’s a major focus for us. In terms of the operational side or supply chain side, we are producing there and from a pragmatic point of view, you need to produce there to be competitive,” Cook said in a call with investors after the results were announced on May 2.
The earnings call happened after the iPhone manufacturer reported a 4.3% drop in quarterly revenue to $90.8 billion, but the figure was marginally higher than the analyst expectation of $90.3 billion. Despite the drop, Apple saw record March quarter revenues in more than a dozen countries and regions, including India, Latin America, the Middle East, Canada, Spain, and Turkey.
In the earnings call, Cook said, “We’re continuing to expand our channels, and also working on the developer ecosystem. We’ve been very pleased that there is a rapidly growing base of developers there (in India). We’re working on the entire ecosystem from developer to the market to operations, the whole thing. And I could not be more excited and enthusiastic about it.”
Cook said the company is working with partners in India and the US to replenish 100% of the water it uses in places that need it most, with the goal of delivering billions of gallons of water benefits over the next two decades.
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Reflecting on the growth so far in India, Cook said, “We have both operational things going on and go-to-market, and initiatives as well.” He sees enormous opportunity in the two stories the firm opened in Mumbai and Delhi last year.
According to an Economic Times report in April, Apple’s two company-owned India outlets, which completed their first year of operations last month, have posted revenue of ₹190-210 crore each last fiscal year, joining the ranks of the iPhone maker’s top-performing retail stores globally.
Another Bloomberg report citing sources also said that Apple assembled $14 billion of iPhones in India last fiscal year, doubling production in a sign it’s accelerating a push to diversify beyond China.
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The US tech giant now makes as much as 14% or about one in seven of its marquee devices from India, the report said. The government, meanwhile, says the growth in manufacturing has created 150,000 direct jobs at Apple’s suppliers.
