Apple clocks quarterly record in India, new retail stores coming this year: Tim Cook

New Delhi, May 2 Apple has set quarterly growth record (January-March period) in several countries and regions across the world, including India, where the company has doubled down on local manufacturing amid rising exports.

According to Apple CEO Tim Cook, “in retail, in addition to the two stores we opened during the quarter, we’re also looking forward to a new retail store in the UAE, the arrival of the online store in Saudi Arabia, and new retail stores in India starting later this year.”

In software, the company has just released iOS 18.4, which brought Apple Intelligence to more languages, including French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, Japanese, Korean, and Simplified Chinese, as well as localised English to Singapore and India.

Overall, Apple posted quarterly revenue of $95.4 billion, up 5 per cent year over year, and quarterly diluted earnings per share of $1.65, up 8 per cent year over year.

“Apple is reporting strong quarterly results, including double-digit growth in Services,” Cook said in a statement.

“We were happy to welcome iPhone 16e to our lineup, and to introduce powerful new Macs and iPads that take advantage of the extraordinary capabilities of Apple silicon. And we were proud to announce that we’ve cut our carbon emissions by 60 percent over the past decade,” he said.

The March quarter business performance drove EPS growth of 8 per cent and $24 billion in operating cash flow, allowing the company to return $29 billion to shareholders, said Kevan Parekh, Apple’s CFO.

“And thanks to our high levels of customer loyalty and satisfaction, our installed base of active devices once again reached a new all-time high across all product categories and geographic segments,” Parekh added.

Apple’s board of directors has declared a cash dividend of $0.26 per share of the company’s common stock, an increase of 4 per cent.

The dividend is payable on May 15, 2025 to shareholders of record as of the close of business on May 12, 2025.

The board of directors has also authorised an additional program to repurchase up to $100 billion of the company’s common stock, according to a statement.

Meanwhile, smartphones emerged as India’s largest export category in the first 10 months of FY25 -- marking a major success story under the government’s production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme.

Smartphone exports had touched a record Rs 2 lakh crore, highlighting the transformative shift in India's electronics manufacturing ecosystem. Apple has been the single largest contributor to India’s smartphone exports, with iPhones accounting for nearly 70 per cent of total shipments.

The App Store ecosystem in India facilitated Rs 44,447 crore ($5.31 billion) in developer billings and sales in 2024, a new Apple study has said.

Disclaimer: This post has been auto-published from an agency feed without any modifications to the text and has not been reviewed by an editor