Apple chief executive Tim Cook on Friday said the iPhone maker's India business "set a quarterly revenue record and grew very strong double digits year-over-year."
"India is a hugely exciting market for us and is a major focus. We brought the online store there in 2020. We will soon bring Apple retail there," Cook said in the December quarter earnings call.
The Cupertino, California-headquartered tech giant is putting a lot of emphasis on the Indian market. "There's been a lot done from a financing options and trade-ins to make products more affordable and give people more options to buy. And so there's a lot going on there," the Apple CEO said.
Cook said he is very bullish on the India market. "We actually did fairly well through COVID in India. And I'm even more bullish now on the other side of it, or hopefully, on the other side of it. And that's the reason why we're investing there. We're bringing retail there and bringing the online store there and putting a significant amount of energy there," he added.
Apple's revenue fell 5% year-on-year to $117.2 billion in the quarter ended December 31, 2022.
The company, however, posted all-time iPhone revenue records for India and Vietnam. "We set all-time iPhone revenue records in Canada, Italy and Spain, and saw strong growth in several emerging markets, including all-time iPhone revenue records for India and Vietnam," said Apple chief financial officer Luca Maestri.
The installed base of active iPhones continues to grow and is at an all-time high across all geographic segments, Maestri said. "In emerging markets, in particular, the installed base grew double digits, and we had record levels of switchers in India and in Mexico," the Apple CFO said.
Apple has set all-time revenue records in a number of markets, including Canada, Indonesia, Mexico, Spain, Turkey and Vietnam, along with quarterly records in Brazil and India, according to Cook.
Apple recoded quarterly earnings per diluted share of $1.88 for the December quarter. "During the December quarter, we achieved a major milestone and are excited to report that we now have more than 2 billion active devices as part of our growing installed base," said Cook.
Apple's services business set an all-time revenue record of $20.8 billion, according to Maestri. "In spite of a difficult macroeconomic environment and significant supply constraints, we grew total company revenue on a constant currency basis," said Maestri. "We generated $34 billion in operating cash flow and returned over $25 billion to shareholders during the quarter while continuing to invest in our long-term growth plans," he added.
Apple's board of directors has declared a cash dividend of $0.23 per share of the company’s common stock.
Earlier in January, the Apple CEO said he will take a 40% pay cut this year after taking feedback from the company's shareholders. Cook's 2023 target total compensation is $49 million, a cut of more than 40% from his 2022 total compensation. Cook's total compensation stood at $84 million in 2022, although he received a total salary of $99.4 million. Cook has a base salary of $3 million, which has remained the same since 2016. He is also eligible for an annual cash incentive or bonus of $6 million. The major difference in Cook's pay package this year will come from his equity award. In 2022, Cook was granted shares worth $75 million, half of which were based on how well the Apple stock performed. For 2023, his equity award target has been cut to $40 million, with 75% of it being dependent on Apple's share performance.