Apple iPhones Are Expensive, But 'Middle Class Driving Sales' In India: Tim Cook

NEW YORK: The devices may be very expensive, but it is the middle class and first time smartphone buyers in emerging markets such as India and China who have become the major drivers of iPhone sales in January-March period. “The momentum expected to continue,” CEO Tim Cook has said.

Cook, under whom the California-based Apple Inc sold 61.2 million iPhones in January-March 2015, said emerging markets accounted for almost 40 per cent of Apple’s revenue for the second quarter.

Apple Inc had said that its net profit stood at USD 13.6 billion in the January-March quarter, while revenue was at USD 58 billion.

About 69 per cent of the revenue came from international sales.

Speaking at an investor call, Cook said: “We also continue to see a reasonable percentage of first time buyers, particularly in some of the emerging markets.

“And if you look at emerging markets in general, revenue from emerging markets, just for the March quarter, was up 58 per cent year on year. And a big piece of what is driving that is iPhone.

“Obviously, those results would have been higher without some of the FX (currency) headwinds…”

Apple chief further said: “And as I mentioned before, in emerging markets, we did extremely well. And so, I feel really good about where we are, and you can hopefully tell with the strong guidance that we provided, that we’re very bullish on the current quarter as well.”

Apple said ‘swappers’ — who changed their last smartphone with an iPhone — also contributed to the growth in iPhone sales.
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