Apple CEO Tim Cook says China demand largely recovered, retail hit record high in Q2

Apple has seen demand in China largely recover from coronavirus-related slumps earlier in the year, Apple CEO Tim Cook said on Thursday.

The Apple executive said that the company was "doing great" in China early in January before COVID-19 lockdowns occurred toward the latter half of the month. Demand slumped in February, during lockdown procedures and a shuttering of Apple retail locations across the country, Cook added.

As the lockdown eased toward the second half of February, Apple began reopening its stores in China on a staggered basis. From there, Cook said that Apple saw demand improve in March, and even more in April.

While foot traffic to Apple retail locations is back to where it was in February, Cook added that it hasn't returned to pre-pandemic levels. More customers are moving to online retail in the country and around the world, a natural result of quarantines and pandemic fears. However, Cook expects traffic at brick-and-mortar stores to eventually return to normal.

In February, Apple advised that it would likely not meet previous financial revenue guidance due to production and demand issues in China.

At another point in the call, Cook said that supply constraints were largely resolved by late March. CFO Luca Maestri also mentioned that Apple's global supply chain was "back up and running."

5 Comments

boxcatcher 274 comments · 9 Years

About 4 years ago

Probably mean Q1, seeing as we’re *in* Q2

GeorgeBMac 11421 comments · 8 Years

boxcatcher said:

Probably mean Q1, seeing as we’re *in* Q2

The difference may be reporting fiscal versus calendar quarters.

To Apple's accountants the "First Quarter" ended December 28th, 2019 and, as of today, they are in their 3rd quarter..
It always made me wonder if an accountant felt they could make up their own calendar would they also believe they could make up their own numbers. That isn't to single out Apple because many/most companies do the same. But, personally, I prefer reality -- particularly in accounting.

jony0 380 comments · 12 Years

GeorgeBMac said:

boxcatcher said:

Probably mean Q1, seeing as we’re *in* Q2

The difference may be reporting fiscal versus calendar quarters.

To Apple's accountants the "First Quarter" ended December 28th, 2019 and, as of today, they are in their 3rd quarter..
It always made me wonder if an accountant felt they could make up their own calendar would they also believe they could make up their own numbers. That isn't to single out Apple because many/most companies do the same. But, personally, I prefer reality -- particularly in accounting.

I'm not an accountant but I think you can choose whenever you want. I also think most would probably set it to when they start the company or after a merger or acquisition ro realign a common start date. I consulted for a company for a dozen years and lived through 3 different fiscal year dates, a pain in the ass writing yearly reports. Our family business was a ski resort and it made a lot more sense to have the fiscal year start in July and have the same ski season as a whole in the same fiscal year, particularly for season pass revenue and other stuff. There must be many other use cases for picking a fiscal starting point.

chasm 3592 comments · 10 Years

In Apple's case I should think it would be pretty obvious to most people who think about it for a minute why their fiscal calendar is what it is: fiscal Q4 is when they introduce new iPhones/iPads so it finishes the year strong, and fiscal Q1 is the holiday season, so it starts the year SUPER strong. Apple has quarters where it doesn't do as well, so best to put those in the middle quarters.

gatorguy 24609 comments · 13 Years

chasm said:

In Apple's case I should think it would be pretty obvious to most people who think about it for a minute why their fiscal calendar is what it is: fiscal Q4 is when they introduce new iPhones/iPads so it finishes the year strong, and fiscal Q1 is the holiday season, so it starts the year SUPER strong. Apple has quarters where it doesn't do as well, so best to put those in the middle quarters.

I'd guess it's because Apple went public in the 4th calendar quarter of 1980, so that a fiscal year would have ended with the third calendar quarter of the following year: Sept 30th 1981. It's been the same since AFAICT.

Share Your Thoughts on our Forums ->