In the entire year, Apple revenue grew 28 percent to nearly $234 billion-almost a quarter of a trillion dollars.
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But Cook warned that sales could slow from now to the end of the year.
After selling a record number of iPhone 6S’s in the phone’s first weekend, Apple also reported a quarterly total of 48 million units sold, falling just shy of an average analyst prediction of 48.5 million.
“It’s a huge number, Cook said, “and we’re very proud of it”. China has been a major driver of Apple’s growth in the past 12 months. This should support further unit growth and profit expansion. That sets a high bar for Apple to clear each time and creates tough comparisons to beat later. The holiday season has traditionally been a period of significant sales for all of Apple’s products, and the company saw a massive iPhone sales increase during that period past year driven by interest in the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, with their larger screens.
“We continue to invest heavily there”, he said.
Cook for the most part shrugged off the growth question. According to him, Apple now has 25 stores in China and they expect to reach 40 stores by the middle of next year. “We see an enormous change in China over the next several years”.
Apple is going into 2016 with a full slate of refreshed products.
Apple still won’t say how many smartwatches it has sold since introducing the new product last spring.
Smartphone sales have helped the company offset falling sales of its iPad tablet. The company is increasingly positioning the iPad as a business device.
Apple’s success largely hinges on the iPhone.
Analysts forecast Apple would have revenue of $51 billion and sell roughly 48 million iPhones – figures that were boosted partly because Apple included China in its first wave of launches for the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus. Mac sales increased to 5.7 million from 5.5 million, while the iPad continued to struggle, with volumes sinking to 9.9 million from 12.3 million.
Interestingly, margin was 39.9 percent while global sales accounted for 62 percent of Apple’s revenue during the quarter. How has China changed Apple?
Investors and analysts are more interested in what happens in the Christmas quarter.
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Apple sold a staggering 74.5 million iPhones during the December quarter in 2014, or 46% more than a year earlier.
