Apple’s China sales grow for second straight quarter on strong iPhone demand
Chief executive Tim Cook says the company achieved ‘an all-time record for revenue from mainland China’ in the December quarter.
Apple has posted its second consecutive quarter of revenue growth for its Greater China business, driven by increased demand for the iPhone, iPad and Mac computers in the three months ended December 31.
The world’s most valuable company reported on Thursday in the United States an 11 per cent increase in its combined fiscal first-quarter revenue from mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan to US$17.9 billion, up from US$16.2 billion in the same period a year ago.
“We had an all-time record for revenue in mainland China,” said Apple chief executive Tim Cook in a conference call with analysts, but did not provide that figure.
“We obviously grew share for iPhone in the quarter, but we also grew share in iPad and Mac during the quarter, and wearables [Apple Watch] were extremely strong there.”
Nasdaq-listed Apple, which had a market value of US$853.1 billion at the close of US trading on Thursday, said global revenue in the December quarter jumped 13 per cent to a record US$88.3 billion, compared with US$78.3 billion a year earlier.
Net profit rose 12 per cent to US$20.1 billion from US$17.9 billion a year ago.