Apple is scheduled to report second-quarter earnings after the closing bell Tuesday. Apple has also approved a $100 billion share buyback program and a 16% increase in quarterly dividends. "We still conservatively forecast no iPhone unit growth through FY 19 but see robust demand for other hardware offerings/wearables", he noted. Apple posted sales of $52.90 billion in the same quarter last year, which suggests a positive year-over-year growth rate of 15.9%. The company sold 9.1 million iPads during the first quarter of 2018, with active installed base of iPads having reached an all-time high.
Overall Apple reported a 3% rise in the number of phones sold, while revenue from phones jumped 14%, reflecting more expensive models.
Apple bought US$23.5 billion of stock in the March quarter, and said it planned to hike its dividend 16 per cent, compared with a 10.5 per cent increase previous year.
Cook admits that while Apple's market share in India is very low, it had the best results there in the second quarter.
Investors had been anxious about iPhone sales over the past few months after upstream suppliers such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. indicated a weak business outlook for the current quarter.
The sales growth of Apple has a strong correlation with its main suppliers who are heavily dependent on the tech giant for their business growth.
Group CFO Luca Maestri said: "With the greater flexibility we now have from access to our global cash, we can more efficiently invest in our U.S. operations and work toward a more optimal capital structure".
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SINCE Apple said in January that it would bring back most of the US$252 billion it held overseas under the new tax law, investors have wondered what the company would do with the enormous cash pile. However, more cheaper products were sold during the period, thereby dragging down the ASP.
Cook said the iPhone X was its topseller during the quarter, including in key markets like China. "I don't see that from a market point of view.and certainly not from an iPhone point of view".
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As for disappointing iPhone X sales and trouble in China? The firm believes that Apple's shares have to digest stronger-than-anticipated results after absorbing significant reductions in iPhone unit expectations that it believes is likely to have a tail through the year and the launch of the iPhone X V2.
Cook also stated that iPhone X has achieved a stellar rating of 99 percent customer satisfaction.
Indeed, iPhone X ranks the highest among the different iPhone models in terms of shipment. However, with the iPhone 7 and iPhone 8 devices it gave a lightning connector to headphone jack for a smoother transition.
The performance has been fantastic for Apple in the Indian market after the reports reflected a 20% rise in revenue, while the strongest stays in Greater China region where the growth rate of 21% year-on-year is seen, in the last 10 quarters. And even though much of the opportunity for further growth in the smartphone market is at the low end in emerging markets, don't expect Apple to go down in price much, Morgan Stanley analyst Katy Huberty said.
