China’s rising middle class has been good for Apple and the iPhone. CEO Tim Cook said iPhone sales in the world’s largest smartphone market has risen 112 percent over the last year.
Cook reported the China earnings during Apple’s third-quarter conference call as the company gets to set to release an earnings report Tuesday afternoon for the last quarter that many analysts are predicting will be underwhelming.
“We remain extremely bullish on China and we’re continuing to invest,” Cook said during the conference call as reported this morning by CNBC. “Nothing that’s happened has changed our fundamental view that China will be Apple’s largest market at some point in the future.””
About 27 percent of the revenues from the last quarter came from China, though that percentage is down from the quarter before, CNBC reported.
Apple continues to forge ahead with growing its appeal in China. It is on track to open 18 new stores by next year, giving Apple a total of 40 in the country. But Apple forges ahead in an economy that is volatile and showing signs of slowing down.
Several analysts quoted by CNBC predict a bumpy road ahead as manufacturing continues to fall and tech companies are reportedly running leaner.
For now, the news coming out of China is encouraging to Apple. Financial services company UBS told CNBC that it estimates about 40 percent of all iPhone sales last quarter came from China. Apple also reports that App Store revenue has more than doubled over the least year.
Source: CNBC
