The recent quarter has been exceptional for Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), mainly because the company sold record units of the new iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 plus. Surely, quarterly earnings report for the fourth quarter of 2014 showed a record $18 billion in earnings value for the company, the biggest figure for earnings reported in by any public company. However, can Apple keep surpassing investor expectations now that the world progresses into 2015?
According to Apple Inc., it might be able to sustain its growth. Apple is a tech company which is unique in its size and it is the most valuable company in the world at the moment (with revenue figures of $183 billion in the past year). For a company that large, it is much easier to take risks and expand into foreign markets where demand for Apple devices is at its highest.
Truly, a major reason behind Apple’s recent growth spurt is the strategic entrance into the Chinese market, one Apple had been trying to tap for quite some time now. Apple entered the market by signing multiple deals with local mobile data service providers in China, namely UnionPay and China Mobile, a move that has made it much easier for the company to sell its products in collaboration with local service providers. Due to strict restrictions for Western brands in China, it had been hard for Apple to enter the market previously. However, now Apple enjoys impressive sales figures in the country.
In fact, China recently surpassed the US in iPhone sales. According to reports, Apple sales figure in China was greater than sales figure in the US in the last quarter of 2014, which is the first time an international market has become bigger than the home market for the company, or for any company operating in the tech industry in the US. This has provided a massive push to the company.
However, analysts are not so optimistic about Apple Inc.’s growth in the industry. According to them, sales by Apple in China are premature to become premise for an argument in favor of sustained growth for the company in the upcoming quarters. Even though Apple harbors a cash reserve of over $178 billion at this time (more than enough for the company to explore new markets and grow even further), analysts argue that growth figures for the company will surely fall once revenue figures from the Chinese market start to decline (which they would in the coming quarters due to falling demand).
But, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), considering its trending growth spurts, will grow in size after the release of the next iPhone or Apple device, according to experts. The company has made record sales with the new iPhone device, as it always has with the release of every new model of the iPhone. Another factor that may contribute to further growth of the company is the rising demand for the Apple Pay mobile payment system, which has already begun to spread in the US according to statistics. The mobile payment system is also growing in reputation in China, where Apple Pay is working in association with UnionPay.
