“Apple has posted the biggest quarterly profit of all time despite a fall in iPhone sales,” James Titcomb reports for The Telegraph. “The world’s biggest company posted profits of $20.1 billion (£14 billion) in the crucial final three months of the year, breaking its own record set two years ago.”
“It came after the release of the £999 iPhone X in November, the biggest update of the handset to date, as well as the release of the iPhone 8 in September,” Titcomb reports. “Although Apple sold 77 million iPhones in the three month period, a 1 percent fall from last year, the higher price of the new handsets meant revenues from selling iPhones increased. Sales of the iPad increased marginally, while those of Apple’s Mac computers fell. Sales of ‘other products’ – a group that includes the Apple Watch and Apple TV – were up 36 percent.”
“‘We’re thrilled to report the biggest quarter in Apple’s history, with broad-based growth that included the highest revenue ever from a new iPhone lineup,’ Mr Cook said. He added that 1.3bn Apple devices are now in use, up from 1bn two years ago,” Titcomb reports. “Apple is the world’s biggest company and is often tipped to be the first to break the one-trillion-dollar value mark, but shares have wavered in recent weeks amid fears that it may be cutting back iPhone X production.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Nowhere in the article is the rather salient point mentioned that this was a 13-week first quarter in 2018 vs. 14-week first quarter in fiscal Q1 2017.
From Apple’s Q1118 Conference Call yesterday evening:
Starting with revenue, we’re reporting an all-time record, $88.3 billion, up nearly $10 billion or 13% over the prior record set last year. It is our fifth consecutive quarter of accelerating revenue growth… When we look at average revenue per week, our growth rate was even higher 21% with growth across all product categories for the third consecutive quarter. — Apple CEO Tim Cook
During the quarter, we sold 77.3 million iPhones, the highest number ever for a 13-week quarter. Average weekly iPhone sales were up 6% compared to December quarter last year with growth in every region of the world despite the staggered launch of iPhone 10. We established all-time iPhone revenue record in nearly every market we track with double-digit growth in all of our geographic segments. iPhone ASP increased to $796 from $695 a year ago, driven primarily by the launch of iPhone X and the success of iPhone 8 and 8 Plus. — Apple CFO Luca Maestri
The revenue growth from iPhone across all the geographic segments was in the double-digits. And I think as Luca said earlier, when you change that for an average weekly sales basis, it’s actually 22%. And so it was a stellar quarter for iPhone. The iPhone 10 was the most popular and that’s particularly noteworthy given that we didn’t start shipping until early November, and we’re constrained for a while. The team did a great job of getting into supply demand balance there in December. But since the launch of iPhone 10, it has been the most popular iPhone every week, every week sales. And that is even through today, actually through January. — Apple CEO Tim Cook
Keep in mind that this year had 13 weeks, last year had 14 weeks. And so even though we were reporting a similar year-over-year growth for Greater China, if you change that reporting to an average weekly sales, which probably is much better way to look at it, there was actually a really nice acceleration. And specifically the numbers this quarter as reported are 11% increase for Greater China year-over-year but on an average weekly revenue basis, we were up 19%. — Apple CEO Tim Cook
As for those “fears” over iPhone X production: Fools and their money are soon parted.
SEE ALSO:
So much for worries over Apple’s iPhone X – February 1, 2018
MacDailyNews presents live notes from Apple’s Q118 conference call – February 1, 2018
Apple smashes Street with biggest quarter in company history – February 1, 2018