Apple earnings in China eclipse 2014 revenues by entire music industry

Apple released its financial results for its fiscal 2015 second quarter on Tuesday night and while key figures show continued revenue strength, the tech giant’s presence in China is worth noting.

Apple’s Q2 results for the second quarter ending March 28, 2015 show it made US$16.8bn in Greater China, that’s almost US$1.8bn more than the entire recorded music industry in 2014. According to statistics released by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), the global record industry revenues for 2014 was US$14.97bn, a 0.4% dip on 2013.

With sales up 71% year-over-year and a 4% rise over Q1, China is now the second biggest market for Apple; North and South America combined closed in on closing in on US$21.3bn in Q2.

While IFPI’s global revenue figures don’t include live income, China contributed US$16.8bn to Apple’s US$58bn in Q2 revenue – a 27.2% increase year-on-year.IFPI said the dip from US$15.03bn to US$14.97bn was due to a fall in physical format sales, which dropped 8.1% to US$6.89bn and download sales, which dropped 8.0% to US$3.56bn.

Apple CEO Tim Cook puts the March quarter result down to the performance sales of its iPhone and Mac products and the App Store. “We’re seeing a higher rate of people switching to iPhone than we’ve experienced in previous cycles, and we’re off to an exciting start to the June quarter with the launch of Apple Watch,” said Cook.