( Reuters) – Apple Inc reported sales and profits that beat Wall Street expectations Thursday, with Ceo Tim Cook saying China sales were “headed in the best instructions” as that nation resumes from the unique coronavirus.
SUBMIT PICTURE: A local cop wearing a protective face mask strolls past the closed Apple store on the Champs-Elysees opportunity in Paris as a lockdown is enforced to slow the rate of the coronavirus illness (COVID-19) in France, April 16,2020 REUTERS/Charles Platiau/File Picture
But Cook said it was impossible to forecast overall outcomes for the existing quarter since of unpredictability created by the infection. Shares declined 2.4%to $28656 in extended trading.
With its global brand name, few American business have been exposed to the spread of the coronavirus like Apple, whose iPhone sales declined in the March quarter as gadget sales were required to online-only in many locations. Sales of membership services such as streaming tv content increased with billions of people locked in their houses, which pushed the general number of customers to paid apps and services on Apple’s devices to 515 million.
China, where the virus was very first discovered, is both a significant market for Apple, supplying about a sixth of its total sales, and is also home to most of Apple’s contract factories.
Apple saw China sales of $9.46 billion, down less than a $1 billion from a year ago, a potential sign of how the company will fare as other markets emerge from lockdowns.
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