Apple just released the sales figures for their latest quarter – Q3 (April to June 2016). As predicted by market analysts, sale of iPhones continued to fall this quarter as well. And just like the previous quarter, India was Apple’s only saving grace.
iPhone sales in India continue to show growth despite an overall global slump.
Just to be clear here, even after a so-called “slump”, Apple still outsells its competitors by a huge margin. Apple sold 40.4 million iPhones, 9.9 million iPads and 4.2 million Macintosh computers.
However, there is no question that their growth is stalling. In huge markets such as China, Apple has seen an unprecedented fall in demand.
Consider this data. You can clearly see a fall in the demand for iPhones.
Dark clouds seem to be hovering over Apple’s future. Things will naturally get worrisome if their star performer – the iPhone – starts taking the largest hit worldwide.
However, in the midst of all this gloom there is a silver lining as well – Apple’s shares rose by 7 percent points in after-hours trading.
Curious, isn’t it?
However, Apple’s stock prices rose because the company sales didn’t fall as drastically as had been predicted by the market. The Wall Street had projected a fall of 19% in the sales, however, the actual fall of 15% was much closer to Apple’s own prediction from the previous quarter. And this accounted for the rise in stock prices. Go figure!
Chief Financial Officer Luca Maestri was quoted as saying, “Customer demand […] was better than what is implied in our results and better than we had anticipated.”
While that may be true, there’s no denying that Apple has gone into survival mode. Its prime area of focus is now India, which shouldn’t come as a surprise given that the Indian sales graph is the only one that’s rising upward!
No wonder then that Tim Cook is going all out. A new iOS App Development Centre in Bengaluru, a new Startup Accelerator in Hyderabad, and a new manufacturing plant in Maharastra are just some of the plans that Apple’s has to cement its position in India.
Cook has openly shown his interest for larger investment in India. “We’re looking forward to opening retail stores in India down the road, and we see huge potential for that vibrant country.” (Quote from ET)
We look forward to working with you as well, Mr Cook! Let’s start with bringing the refurbished phones to India. And maybe you should relook the prices as well. What say?
