Apple doubled its business in India during fiscal 2021: CEO Tim Cook

Apple doubled its business in India during the fiscal 2021, CEO Tim Cook said during the company’s earnings conference call on October 28.

“We set quarterly records in every geographic segment with strong double-digit growth across the board. During fiscal 2021, we earned nearly one-third of our revenue from emerging markets and doubled our business in India and Vietnam,” Cook said.

Overall, the company posted a September quarter revenue record of $83.4 billion, up 29 per cent year-over-year (y-o-y). “We are optimistic about the future, especially as we see strong demand for our new products,” said Cook.

“Our record September quarter results capped off a remarkable fiscal year of strong double-digit growth, during which we set new revenue records in all of our geographic segments and product categories in spite of continued uncertainty in the macro environment,” said Luca Maestri, Apple’s CFO.

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Maestri further added that every product category and every geographic segment set a new annual revenue record and were up at least 20 per cent over fiscal 2020. “We also achieved more than 20 per cent growth across all of our product categories and in every geographic segment,” Maestri said.

The company does not detail India specific numbers. However, according to research firm Counterpoint research, Apple crossed a record two million shipments in Q3, 2021 in India. Apple was the fastest growing brand in Q3 2021 in the country with 212 per cent y-o-y growth, gaining a market share of 44 per cent in the premium smartphone market.

According to the report, it led the premium smartphone market (price point of over ₹30,000) and maintained its leading position in the ultra-premium segment (over ₹45,000 or ~$650) with a 74 per cent share. “Strong demand for the iPhone 12 and iPhone 11 were the major factors in Apple’s growth. Apple became the top 5G smartphone brand in the premium segment for the first time,” the report said.

Globally, Apple set an all-time record for Mac and quarterly records for iPhone, iPad, Wearables, Home and Accessories representing 30 per cent year-over-year growth in products.

This was even as the company was facing “larger than ever” supply constraints. “We estimate these constraints had around a $6 billion revenue dollar impact driven primarily by industry-wide silicon shortages and Covid-related manufacturing disruptions,” Cook said during the earnings call.

Its business also performed better than expected, witnessing an all-time record of $18.3 billion, growing 26 per cent year-over-year during the fiscal. It recorded all-time records for cloud services, music, video, advertising, AppleCare and payment services and a September quarter record for the App Store, Maestri said.

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Apple has been under the scanner, facing scrutiny from regulators across the globe over the App Store’s business practices. Cook weighed in on the issue stating that the company is focusing on the privacy and security aspects of the App Store.

“What we’re doing is working to explain the decisions that we’ve made that are key to keeping the privacy and security there, which is to not have sideloading and not have alternate ways on the iPhone, where it opens up the iPhone to unreviewed apps and also gets by the privacy restrictions that we put on the App Store,” Cook said.

“And so we’re very focused in discussing the privacy and security elements of the App Store with the regulators and legislators,” he said.