Apple generated over five times more profit from South Korea in its fiscal year ending September 2023 than it did the year before, from roughly the same net sales as the last two years.
National Assembly of the Republic of South Korea
Ascribing the increased profits to the reportedly huge popularity of the iPhone 15 range, The Elec says that Apple's October 2022 to September 2023 revenue was 7.52 trillion won ($5.625 billion). Its operating profit was 559.9 billion won ($417.8 million).
This is in comparison to the October 2021 to September 2022 period, where the company generated $5.9 billion in total sales, with profit of $91.3 million
For fiscal year October 2020 to September 2021, Apple South Korea recorded $5.97 billion, with profit of $104.4 million.
It's not clear why profit in South Korea has gone up so dramatically, with the same amount in sales. Presumably, the South Korean market has radical Services growth, expanding the profit figure in the country for the year.
Separately, South Korea is one of the countries that wants Apple and Google to allow alternative App Store payments. Apple has also historically had difficulty gaining market share in the country because it is rival Samsung's home territory.
Apple's quarterly earnings for the company on a worldwide basis will be reported on February 1.
Apple's previous year of earnings hasn't been a bright spot for the company, as it saw four consecutive quarters of revenue decline. Services continues to be a growth area for Apple, but the post-pandemic market has been a decline for most hardware.
Wearables will be a tough compare, however, since 2022 supply chain conditions pushed demand into Q1 2023. Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2 launched without supply issues, thus allowing demand to concentrate on Q4 2023, likely lowering the available demand for Q1 2024.