Apple's results confirmed that, while the days of double-digit smartphone industry growth are over, Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook has a plan to withstand the slowdown.
The shares gained after the company reported iPhone sales in line with analysts' expectations, gave a bullish revenue forecast and highlighted a surging services business. A new $100 billion (roughly Rs. 6.68 lakh crores) stock repurchase plan and higher dividend also helped. The stock jumped 3.2 percent to $174.52 (roughly Rs. 11,700) at 9:33am in New York.
The numbers show that Cook's strategy of selling a growing array of services through a base of more than 1.3 billion Apple devices is working. The smartphone sector saw shipments fall 2 percent in the past year, according to Strategy Analytics, so the company must evolve beyond its reliance on a device that still accounts for more than 60 percent of revenue.
"Slowly but surely, [Apple] is morphing into more than just an iPhone story and is displaying ability to sustain revenue growth irrespective of iPhone trajectory," Amit Daryanani, an analyst at RBC Capital Markets, wrote in a research note.
The company reported iPhone unit sales grew just 2.9 percent in the fiscal second quarter. While the flagship iPhone X may not have matched the hype from its launch late last year, the device's $999 (roughly Rs. 66,700) starting price helped boost phone revenue growth 14 percent.
