That means Apple is likely to deliver massive sales figures in January when it reveals just how many iPhones it shifted in the traditionally busy run up to Christmas.
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“I would point out that we’re investing in China, not for next quarter or the quarter after, we’re investing for the decades ahead”, CEO Tim Cook said on Apple’s earnings call Tuesday. And in a crucial indicator, Apple forecast healthy iPhone sales during the upcoming holidays.
Cook said that China’s economic slowdown seems to have no effect on the customers demand for iPhone and Apple products.
Ben Bajarin, an analyst at Creative Strategies, said that the numbers for the “other” category were in line with his expectations, and implied somewhere between 3.5 million and 4 million watches were sold over the quarter.
While the quarterly results were bolstered by its iPhone sales, as the company said it sold over 48 million during the quarter, which was up from last year’s 39 million during the same quarter, the company was very cautious about its sales during the upcoming key sales period during the holiday.
“We think we can grow iPhone (sales) during the December quarter”, Chief Financial Officer Luca Maestri told The Associated Press.
Analysts were concerned with Apple’s ability to continue growing strongly into 2016.
For the full year to 26 September, Apple generated revenue of $234 billion, up 28% on fiscal 2014. While this year’s new “S” models have additional features, they’re not as dramatically different from last year’s iPhones.
Both sales and profit beat the consensus forecast of analyst polled by Thomson Reuters.
This quarter may be the last one in which Apple sees an earnings increase, however.
On paper sales in Greater China, which includes Hong Kong and Taiwan, almost doubled to $12.5 billion, though they were slightly lower than in the fiscal third quarter. “We believe that iPhone will grow in [the fiscal first quarter] and we base that on what we are seeing from a switcher point of view”.
Shares were rising in premarket trading Wednesday, gaining 1.3% to $116.
Apple posted quarterly net profit of $11.1 billion during Q4.
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Wall Street analysts estimated that Apple sold 4 million watches in the September period. Cook said that major changes in policy are not to be expected, adding Apple will rely on its 75 ability partners for the same, and these already have ample direct sales teams. Basically it’s a financing plan, so it should make the iPhone more accessible to aspiring Apple consumers who were priced out of the market previously. But its other products aren’t all faring as well, according to its latest earnings report.
