Here’s what Tim Cook had to say about Apple’s surprising momentum in China last quarter:
“Yes. We did grow in Greater China by 4% during the quarter versus the previous quarter, it was driven by an acceleration by iPhone, although we also had substantial growth on the MAC year-over-year. From a — as you know, the government has placed certain subsidies that affects some of our products, not all of them, but there are some of them. And I think that had some effect. It was the first full quarter of the subsidy playing out. that cut in during a portion of the previous quarter.
The other things I would say are that the installed base hit a record high in Greater China — and we set an all-time record for the iPhone installed base. The iPhone upgraders in Mainland China set a record for the June quarter. And according to Boral Panel, which was formerly known as Kantar, iPhone had the top 3 models in Urban China, which is extraordinary. Also, if you look at the other products, Mac, iPad and watch, the majority of customers that are buying in China Mainland were new to the product. So lots of good things there.
And the other thing I would point out, which is an interesting point, The MacBook Air was the top-selling laptop model in all of China, and the Mac Mini was the top-selling desktop model in all of China. So overall, a positive — very positive quarter.”