Things are looking a lot smoother for Apple lately, however it’s worth noting that there are discrepancies from prior year. As much of the growth is anticipated in North America, as opposed to Eastern Asia, given the promotional activity around the U.S. telco companies. The major four carriers, i.e. VZ, T, S, and TMUS are offering $600 credits on iPhone 6S/6S Plus trade-ins, which creates a different dynamic for revenue/earning distribution going into the next fiscal year.That being the case, I wanted to surface some relevant commentary from Rod Hall/Michele Wei over at J.P.Morgan:We review the recently announced subsidy plans for the new iPhone models in China, Taiwan and HK. Operators’ iPhone plans are very similar to last year’s, indicating the difficulty of raising prices and, at the same time, the reluctance to intensify competition. Notable changes include China Unicom slightly increasing subsidies and Chunghwa Telecom turning more aggressive in the low-end segment.The analysts also mentioned that China Unicom subsidies as a percentage of mobile/service subscription spend ranged between 40% to 70%. China Telecom and China Mobile sat at prior-year ranges of 30% to 42% and 20% to 50%, respectively.This implies that North America post-paid plans remain the biggest driver to y/y iPhone refresh, which materially differs from prior-year. While Asia remains a robust market, it’s worth noting that high-end penetration has slowed, which diminishes the likelihood of Apple’s record iPhone shipment growth witnessed in China from FY’15 to FY’16.That being the case, I remain optimistic on Apple, and recommend it on the basis of improving fundamentals/sentiment.