Apple CEO Tim Cook said on a Monday earnings call that the company is enthusiastic about its tablet sales as it heads into the holiday season.
“It’s going to be an iPad Christmas,” Cook said, noting that the recent iPad product announcement was Apple’s largest iPad launch ever.
“The tablet market is huge,” Cook said, adding that the iPad share in the education market was 94 percent. “Which is sort of unheard of,” Cook said.
Also read: Apple Sold 33 Million iPhones, 14 Millions iPads in Q4
Apple boasted sales of 33 million iPhones and 14 million iPads in the quarter ending Sept. 30, though the new 5c and 5s phones were released just 10 days before the quarter ended and the new iPads were announced after the quarter ended.
One thing that could prevent new iPad Airs and Minis from appearing underneath the Christmas tree is a lack of adequate supply for demand. Cook admitted that there was a backlog of recently-lauched 5s iPhones but said he was confident the company would catch up to the “very robust” demands.
Also read: Apple Unveils New iPads, MacBooks and Mac Pros – but No iPods or Apple TV
The iPad Air and Mini, he said, could face similar issues, though he said the company would not know for sure until the products are actually released (next week for the iPad Air and November for the iPad Mini).
Cook also noted that Apple was making strides in cornering the Chinese market, growing six percent compared to last year and iPhone sales up 25 percent.
“We had a pretty good quarter in China,” Cook said. “We obviously want to do better.” Apple plans to continue efforts to release products simultaneously with America and build out its retail stores in the country.