Apple earnings: virtual reality, India growth and plenty of life left in the iPhone

V3 digs through the Apple earnings call to uncover some hidden gems

Apple announced its first-quarter earnings on Tuesday evening, revealing that growth is slowing despite a record quarter for iPhone sales.

However, Apple CEO Tim Cook made several interesting announcements during the earnings call that were overshadowed by the headline financial news. V3 has been through the call to uncover the most interesting.

Virtual reality

Apple has been mostly absent from discussions around virtual reality (VR), unlike Microsoft, Samsung, Facebook and Google, but Cook said on the earnings call that he definitely thinks the technology has mainstream potential.

"In terms of virtual reality, no, I don't think it's a niche. I think it's really cool and has some interesting applications," he said.

It certainly wouldn't be surprising if Apple is working on its own VR headset but is holding back before it makes any serious move into the market, just as it did with smartphones, tablets and wearables.

India could be the next China for Apple

Apple has seen huge growth in China over the past few years, but there is a growing focus on India for the future and Cook noted that there is a huge market in the country waiting to be exploited.

"India's growth, as you know, is very good. The population of India is incredibly young. The median age there is 27. I think of the China age being young, at 36, 37, so 27 is unbelievable. Almost half the people in India are below 25," he said.

"So I see the demographics there being incredibly great for a consumer brand and for people that really want the best products."

Plenty of growth left in the iPhone

Much has been made of the slowdown in iPhone sales growth, but one stat from Cook during the call suggests that these fears may be overplayed. He explained that less than half of all iPhone owners currently use a new, larger screen model.

"The number of people who had an iPhone prior to the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus announcements in September of 2014 and who have not yet upgraded to a 6, 6 Plus or 6s or 6s Plus is now 60 percent. So, another way to think about that is 40 percent have, 60 percent have not," he said.

That's a lot of potential sales that may well be waiting for the iPhone 7 later this year, and Apple's growth may shoot up again in 12 months' time. The market will certainly hope so.

One billion active iOS devices

Cook also confirmed that there are now over one billion active iOS devices on the market, a huge number that underlines Apple's dominance in the mobile market.

"Our installed base has been growing very fast and has recently reached a major milestone, crossing one billion active devices for the first time," he said.

Enterprises are already using the iPad Pro

The iPad Pro has been on the market only for a few months but Cook revealed that pharmaceuticals company Eli Lilly is already rolling out the giant tablet to sales teams.

"Lilly has eliminated laptops in the field and is upgrading its US field sales teams to the iPad Pro," he said.