Apple Hits New Revenue Record in India Despite Global iPhone Sales Slump

Apple reported record revenue growth in India and several other emerging markets in its latest fiscal quarter, even as the Cupertino giant's overall global sales declined due to flagging iPhone demand.

In prepared remarks during Apple's fiscal Q2 2024 earnings call on Friday, CEO Tim Cook said the company set all-time revenue records in more than a dozen countries and territories, including India, Latin America, the Middle East, Canada, Spain, and Turkey.

Referring to the company's performance in India, Cook stated. "We did grow strong double-digit, and so we were very, very pleased with that. It was a new March quarter revenue record for us. As you know, as I've said before, I see it as an incredibly exciting market and it's a major focus for us."

In recent years, India has become an increasingly important market for Apple, as sales have stagnated in China amid economic headwinds and geopolitical tensions. The company has been ramping up local production, opening retail stores, and investing in the Indian developer ecosystem.

"In terms of the operational side or supply chain side, we are producing [in India]," Cook explained. "We just opened a couple of stores last year, as you know, and we see enormous opportunity there. We're continuing to expand our channels and also working on the developer ecosystem as well, and we've been very pleased that there's a rapidly growing base of developers there, and so we're working all of the entire ecosystem from developer to the market to operations, the whole thing, and I could not be more excited and enthusiastic about it."

"China is by far the largest emerging market that we have. But when we start looking at places like India, like Saudi, like Mexico, Turkey, of course Brazil and Mexico, and Indonesia, the numbers are getting large and we're very happy because these are markets where our market share is low, the populations are large and growing, and our products are really making a lot of progress in those markets," Apple's CFO Luca Maestri added.

However, the iPhone maker's overall revenue for the March quarter declined 4% year-over-year to $90.75 billion, only slightly beating analyst estimates. iPhone sales dropped 10% to $45.96 billion amid weakening consumer demand.

Other product categories, such as Macs and wearables, also saw sales decline, but the company reported continued service growth. Apple is forecasting single-digit revenue growth for the current quarter.

The company's $3,499 Vision Pro mixed reality headset went on sale earlier this year, though due to its premium price, sales are not expected to increase significantly in the short term.

According to renowned Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, weaker-than-expected demand has forced Apple to slash its 2024 shipment estimates for the device from 700,000-800,000 units down to 400,000-450,000 units. Kuo also says that Apple is now "more conservative" about predicted demand for the Vision Pro's upcoming international rollout later this year.

In June, Apple is expected to showcase AI-powered enhancements for its operating systems and services at its WWDC annual developer conference. "We continue to feel very bullish about our opportunity in generative AI. We are making significant investments, and we’re looking forward to sharing some very exciting things with our customers soon," Cook revealed during the Earnings Call.

Generative AI has emerged as a major competitive front for Apple, with rivals like Google and Microsoft racing to integrate the technology across their product lines.