SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Apple Inc
Apple's iPhone sales in China jumped about 48 percent and Mac computer sales rose 39 percent in the June quarter, Chief Financial Officer Luca Maestri said in an interview.
China is considered crucial to Apple's longer-term growth prospects, Maestri said.
Lower-cost phones sold there by up-and-coming rivals such as Xiaomi appeared to be taking market share from other companies that rely on Google's Android mobile software, Maestri added.
"We have a really good runway in front of us with China Mobile," Maestri said, referring to Apple's main carrier partner in the world's No. 2 economy.
Samsung Electronics Co Ltd <005930.KS> this month estimated April-June operating profit far below most analysts' forecasts, as its flagship Galaxy S5 sold more slowly than expected.
NEW PRODUCT CATEGORIES
Whether Apple can again produce a revolutionary new product, something it has not done since the iPad in 2010, remains the central question in the minds of investors and Silicon Valley executives.
Many investors expect Apple to make a play for the wearable device market with a sensor-laden smart watch, dubbed iWatch. Analysts also expect the company to introduce two versions of its smartphone this fall, including a 5.5-inch model that thrusts Apple into the market for larger-sized phones that rival Samsung helped popularize.
TABLET AND PHONE SALES
Apple iPhone sales typically tail off in the quarters before a new major product launch, like a new iPhone.
But the company reported sales of 35.2 million iPhones in an increasingly competitive smartphone market, up 13 percent from a year earlier.
The iPhone maker, which derives most of its business from the high-end mobile device, reported sales of $37.4 billion in its fiscal third quarter ended June, falling short of Wall Street's expectations for about $38 billion.
The company sold 35.2 million iPhones in an increasingly competitive smartphone market. But iPad sales at 13.3 million fell a little short of analysts' projections for more than 14 million. The tablet has come under increasing pressure from cheaper Android rivals.
Gross margins were better than expected at 39.4 percent, up from 36.9 percent in the year-ago quarter, primarily due to cheaper product costs and strong sales of the Mac.
Shares of Apple slipped 0.8 percent to $94 after-hours.
Apple's net income jumped 12.2 percent to $7.75 billion, or $1.28 per share. That beat expectations for $1.23 and was its best quarterly growth in EPS in seven quarters.
(Reporting by Edwin Chan and Christina Farr; Editing by Richard Chang)
