Last year, the company enjoyed a sales surge driven by the launch of the iPhone 6S and 6S Plus. In November 2014, Apple sold its 1 billionth iOS gadget, which includes iPhones, iPads and the iPod Touch. Shares rose 5.1 percent to $101.61 in after-hours trading. For the first time in 13 years, Apple failed to report quarterly growth, last quarter.
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Industry experts had predicted the iPhone’s sales had reached saturation point at the start of the year and would being to steadily fall. The iPhone remained Apple’s single-largest source of revenue, accounting for $24.05 billion in sales during the quarter ended in June.
But the results exceeded the forecasts of analysts, who had been expecting earnings of $1.39 per share. Apple also reports that iPhone sales totaled 40.4 million units in fiscal Q3 2016, down from the 47.5 million units sold in Q3 2015.
For its fourth fiscal quarter, Apple expects between $45.5 billion and $47.5 billion in sales, which is solid compared to the consensus of $45.71 billion. Revenue for the period clocked in at $42.4 billion, which narrowly topped the analysts’ $42.09-billion expectation. Almost half of iPhone owners, for instance, are now waiting until their device is two years old or older to upgrade, whereas in 2013, only 34 per cent of iPhone owners would wait. Cook also said that the portion of SE sales that go to new Apple customers is higher than for previous launches, which could mean more people that will buy more expensive sales in the future. The obvious explanation for the iPad’s incipient turnaround is that the higher margins on the 9.7-inch iPad Pro have picked up the slack in the face of an overall decline in consumer tablet sales. That’s a lot – but it’s still down from the previous quarter’s total revenue of $50.6 billion, and is 15 percent below the corresponding quarter for 2015, which saw revenue of $49.6 billion.
Of more concern to some Apple partners is what Apple has been doing outside of the iPhone – or rather, what Apple hasn’t been doing. Macs: 4.2 million sold versus 4.6 million estimates. The iPhone and Mac numbers were records for Apple’s June quarter.
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If iPhone and iPad owners are upgrading less regularly, which appears to be the case amid Apple’s vow it is welcoming more and more switchers and first time smartphone owners, then purchases of apps, music, storage plans and payments through Apple Pay are going to become increasingly important to Apple’s bottom line.
