“Our team delivered Apple’s biggest quarter ever, thanks to the world’s most innovative products and all-time record sales of iPhone, Apple Watch and Apple TV”, Cook said in an earnings release.
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Despite the record levels, the sales represented meager growth from 2014, when Apple sold 74.5 million iPhones with total revenue of $74.6 billion and profits of $18 billion in the final three months.
Apple has reported the slowest growth in iPhone sales since the product’s 2007 launch and warned sales will fall for the first time later this year. It had $75.9 billion in revenue, an increase of 1.7 per cent. Earnings amounted to $3.28 a share, which beat the $3.23 average forecast among analysts surveyed by FactSet.
AS China sales show signs of cooling, Apple Inc is touting India’s appetite for iPhones, betting that rising wages and an expanding middle class will pull consumers away from the cheap alternatives that now dominate the market. Sales of the iPad tablet dropped 25 percent from a year earlier in terms of units, while Mac computers declined 4 percent. We’ve heard rumors like this before and Apple pulled the feature, so while it is exciting, make sure you check before dropping your iPhone 7 into the water later this year.
Kevin Kelly, chief investment officer and managing partner of Recon Capital Partners, said Apple may need to lower prices, and sacrifice profitability, to reignite growth.
“We don’t live in 90-day quarters, and we don’t invest in 90-day quarters”, said Mr. Cook.
Kent German, from consumer technology website CNET, said: “Apple had a record quarter profit a year ago – any other company would be jumping up and down”.
The smartphone accounts for 68% of Apple’s revenue and iPhone revenue has never declined year-over-year.
Americas (the biggest market for Apple) generated revenues of $29.3 billion in the quarter, down 4% year over year but up 35% sequentially.
With Apple products coveted status symbols in India, just as in China, the company is “increasingly putting more energy” into India, citing a largely youthful population with rising disposable income as more people join the workforce. He said Apple has a large base of customers – with 1 billion Apple devices now in active use – who can be relied on to purchase new Apple gadgets, mobile apps and services like Apple Music.
In the rest of Asia Pacific, the company reported revenues of $5.4 billion, up 4% year over year and 101% sequentially. The company rang up $16.8 billion for the fiscal year ended September 26, up 13 percent from the previous year.
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Apple CFO Luca Maestri hinted at the company’s intentions during the conference call on Tuesday. At this price, analysts expect Apple to gain $200 billion in value over the next 12 months. He also noted that Apple had raised prices in certain markets to offset the strong dollar, which may hurt demand.
