The iPhone continues to shine and so is the services business for Apple. And India continues to play an important role for the company.

In its second fiscal quarter earnings, Apple said sales of iPhone have surged due to strong demand in emerging markets, which is a sign of resilience.

“Looking at the business in India, we did set a quarterly record, grew very strong, double digits year-over-year. So it was quite a good quarter for us, taking a step back, India is an incredibly exciting market. It’s a major focus for us. I was just there, and the dynamism in the market, the vibrancy is unbelievable. Over time, we’ve been expanding our operations there to serve more customers, and three years ago, we launched the Apple Store online, and then we launched two stores just a few weeks ago, and they’re off to a great start, one in Mumbai and one in Delhi,” said Tim Cook, chief executive officer, Apple.

Apple is enjoying strong iPhone growth in places such as India, Indonesia, Latin America and the Middle East. On the one hand are the company’s recent investments in the country in the form of retail stores, and on the other is the focus on building up the app-developer community here.

“We’ve got a number of channel partners in the country as well that we’re partnering with, and we’re very happy with how that’s going overall. Overall, I couldn’t be more delighted and excited by the enthusiasm I’m seeing for the brand there. There are a lot of people coming into the middle class, and I really feel that India is at a tipping point, and it’s great to be there,” Cook said.

Cook was in India last month for a few days and he received a welcome that’s usually reserved for celebrities. “I couldn’t have been more delighted by the excitement and enthusiasm of the customers, developers, creators and team members I got to spend time with,” he said.

Meanwhile, the iPhone continues to find new takers even though the general smartphone market is in a strange place. “Today, we’re reporting revenue of $94.8 billion for the March quarter, which was better than our expectations. We set an all-time record for services and a March quarter record for iPhone. We were particularly pleased with the performance we saw in emerging markets and achieved all-time records in Mexico, Indonesia, the Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the UAE, as well as a number of March quarter records, including in Brazil, Malaysia and India.”

Picture: The Telegraph