Blame 26% decline in China's sales for lion's share of Apple's loss
Apple's sales in China tumbled in the second quarter after currency headwinds hurt Hong Kong sales, the company said in Tuesday's earnings.
"The vast majority of the weakness sits in Hong Kong,"
Apple CEO
Tim Cook told analysts in an earnings call. "The Hong Kong dollar being pegged to the U.S. dollar, and therefore it carries the burden of strength of U.S. dollar. And that has driven tourism, trade and international shopping down significantly compared to what it was in the year ago."
The company reported quarterly earnings and revenue that missed analysts' expectations, with revenue declining year-over-year in every region. But China saw the biggest share of declines: Greater China sales, once the tech giant's fastest growing market, fell to $12.49 billion in the second quarter, the company said, a 26 percent year-over-year decline.
Excluding Hong Kong and Taiwan, mainland China saw sales decline 11 percent on a reported basis, and 7 percent on a constant currency basis, Cook said. But people need to look under the numbers, Cook said, as LTE adoption increases and more Apple stores open in the region.
"When I look at the larger picture, I think China is not weak as is talked about," Cook said. "I see China as ... a lot more stable than what I think is the common view of it. We remain really optimistic about China."
Chief financial officer Luca Maestri said the business in China was "better than the numbers might suggest."
"We had significant inventory channel reductions and currency weakness which affected our reported revenue," Maestri said in an earnings call. "Keep in mind that we were up against an extremely difficult year-ago compare when our mainland China revenue grew 81 percent. We remain very optimistic about the China market over the long-term, and we are committed to investing there for the long run."
But speaking in January, Cook warned that the company had seen "some signs of economic softness" in the Greater China region.
That business segment, which includes mainland
China, Taiwan and Hong Kong, is a key area of growth for the U.S. tech giant, but
Cook acknowledged in January that it had been something of a "turbulent environment." China has seen its pace of economic expansion slowing in recent quarters, and its stock markets have taken investors on a roller coaster ride during that time.
"Something's wrong in China," Gene Munster, managing director and senior research analyst at Piper Jaffray, wrote in a research note after the earnings. "Guidance appear negatively impacted by a sharp deceleration in China ... Overall we see few bright spots in the March report and June guide."
Beyond macroeconomic factors, Apple's position in China is under fire by domestic firms, and it could even see the government in Beijing crack down on its success in the country.
Speaking with CNBC earlier this week, billionaire Chinese entrepreneur Jia Yueting said Apple is "outdated," and charged that it has not been innovating at a sufficient pace.
"One of the most important reasons [for slowing sales] is that Apple's innovation has become extremely slow," he said. "For example, a month ago Apple launched the iPhone SE. From an industry insider's perspective, this is a product with a very low level of technology...We think this is something they just shouldn't have done."
Cook admitted in the earnings call that the smartphone market was not growing but attributed it to a passing "overhang of the macroeconomic environment in many different places in the world."
And Cupertino, California-based Apple could face increased scrutiny from Beijing, which has sought to exercise control over many other U.S. tech companies.
"I'd be very surprised in five years' time if we see Apple having the kind of access to the Chinese consumer that they presently enjoy," Ian Bremmer, founder and president of the Eurasia Group,
told CNBC's "Squawk Box" on Monday.
But Cook has continued to sound an optimistic note on China throughout that time. Tuesday's report showed what Cook called "tremendous" success of Apple Pay in China, for instance. Drexel Hamilton analyst Brian White said even after the earnings, he was looking forward to new geographic opportunities in certain Chinese cities.
"Beyond the short-term volatility, we remain very confident about the long-term potential about the China market and the large opportunities ahead of us, and we are maintaining our investment plans," Cook said in January, adding that he does not "subscribe to the doom and gloom kind of predictions."
—CNBC's Josh Lipton contributed to this report.
Everett RosenfeldStaff Writerhttp://www.cnbc.com/2016/04/26/apples-china-softness-comes-to-light-sales-decline-26-percent.html
德語媒體：蘋果過分依賴中國市場
蘋果週二公佈最新財報，其營收創下13年以來最低紀錄。德語媒體分析認為，除了孤注一擲地投注精力在其明星產品iPhone外，過分依賴陰晴不定的中國市場也是蘋果公司的重大失誤。
(德國之聲中文網）蘋果週二公佈2016年第二財季業績，該公司營收13年來首次出現下滑。《世界報》分析了箇中原因認為，蘋果最大的失誤是在iPhone這項單一產品上傾盡資源，而過度依賴中國市場則是蘋果的第二大錯誤。
該報寫道："蘋果太過依賴陰晴不定的中國市場作為其增長動力。該公司執行長庫克早已宣布，中國很快將成為蘋果最重要的市場。如今的中國已是全球最大智能手機市場。蘋果去年超過半數的銷售增長皆仰仗中國。最新季度中，蘋果在中國的營收佔整體營收近四分之一。"
德國《明星》周刊也認為，蘋果過於依賴"混亂"的中國市場。該報指出，沒有一個市場如同中國市場這般，iPhone等蘋果產品被視為身份象徵，與此同時也沒有一個市場的競爭如此激烈。
"在中國，越來越細緻、精良的產品互相削價競爭，這是各企業迄今在本國內難以想像的情況。包括小米機在內的許多品質不輸iPhone的手機，在中國的要價極低。而且隨時都有其它智能手機製造商加入市場。"
德語媒體指出，蘋果產品在中國被視為地位象徵
《世界報》指出，庫克曾經多次造訪中國，以提高其重要性。中國不斷增長的中產階層將為蘋果帶來更多買家。根據該公司的內部預測，截至2020年，中國的中產階層人數將增加至5億人。
然而，作者筆鋒一轉指出，"幾乎沒有一個市場像中國那樣難以捉摸"。"蘋果在過去幾週內也有過親身經歷。中國監管機構強迫該公司，中止半年前在中國推出的電子書和影片在線銷售。"
"iPhone 6在中國上市時也經歷了推遲，原因是未取得所需的許可。據蘋果的說法，中國政府甚至要求蘋果向其公開作業系統的原始碼，但遭到該公司拒絕。"
"從蘋果的財報看來，該公司在中國的運營如同在坐過山車。去年前三個月，蘋果在華營收還增加了70%，但今年初開始卻萎縮了26%。"作者提出疑問："在中國做生意究竟有多少可預測性？蘋果最終得向中國政府做出多少讓步？該公司是否又願意讓步？"文章最後還特意點出，谷歌在2010年退出了中國市場，Facebook和推特在中國都被封鎖。
摘編自其他媒體的內容，不代表德國之聲的立場或觀點
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