Apple iPhone 6 (Photo : Apple)
Apple reported record sales in Greater China driven by huge demand for its iPhone 6 model supported by rising sales for Macs and iPads.
The Greater China region (China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan) set a new sales record with revenues rising to US$16.82 billion in the second quarter, a 71 percent improvement year-on-year.
This revenue figure exceeded European revenues, making Greater China Apple's second biggest market behind the Americas.
CEO Tim Cook said most of the region's growth was due to the Chinese New Year holiday last February and a rising middle class.
He said the iPhone "led the way," and noted Mac sales in the region rose 31 percent while iPad sales had its "best quarter" in China.
Almost 70 percent of the Chinese that bought iPhones bought smartphones for the first time compared with 40 percent in the U.S. App Store revenues in Greater China doubled last quarter.
Apple has 21 stores in Greater China and plans to have 40 stores in total by mid-2016. Cook has said in the past it's only a matter of time until China overtakes the U.S. in Apple sales.
In the U.S., however, Apple's iPhone 6 and 6 Plus had a very strong second quarter, selling 61.2 million handsets. This is the second highest total for quarterly iPhone sales of all time.
Sales of the iPad, however, continued to slump. The iPad saw only 12.6 million sales during Q2 compared to 16 million on-year.
The Q2 iPhone sales represent 40 percent on-year growth while the iPad's sales fell 21 percent, said TechCrunch.
