Apple reported record-breaking quarterly earnings this week with $78.4 billion USD in total revenue and 78.3 million iPhones sold.
Record breaking quarter for Apple
The company was expected to reach $77.25 billion in revenue, and surpassed its quarterly results from the year prior, which reached $75.9 billion. Apple also recorded a stellar quarter at the same time last year and projects its earnings for the second fiscal quarter of 2017 to reach $53.79 billion.
These numbers equate to $3.36 in earnings per diluted share, which is up from last years rate of $3.28 per diluted share. Operating income came in at $17.89 billion this past quarter ended December 31, 2016 with operating expenses of just under $7 billion.
It’s important to note that while gross income increased this quarter, net income fell from $18.3 billion this time last year to $17.8 billion this past year.
iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus carry the holiday season
On a conference call, Apple CEO Tim Cook noted an especially strong quarter for the iPhone 7 Plus, which made up a higher thane expected portion of iPhone sales. iPhone unit sell through was up eight percent this past year. Furthermore, 13 million iPads and 5 million Macbooks were sold. Despite a 19 percent dip in iPad sales, Tim Cook refers to “double digit growth” for the product line.
In addition to Apple’s strong growth in its core North American markets, its international push seems to be paying off. While the Americas still made up $31.9 billion of total Apple sales this past quarter, European sales made up $18.5 billion, Greater China sales made up $16.2 billion, Japanese sales made up $5.7 billion and the rest of the Asia Pacific consisted of $5.8 billion.
“We’re thrilled to report that our holiday quarter results generated Apple’s highest quarterly revenue ever”
Apple has been forward regarding its intention to move into China over the past few quarters and that shift seems to be gradually paying off. Year over year App Store revenue growth is up 43 percent through the first 13 weeks of the quarter, the conference call revealed.
“We’re thrilled to report that our holiday quarter results generated Apple’s highest quarterly revenue ever, and broke multiple records along the way. We sold more iPhones than ever before and set all-time revenue records for iPhone, Services, Mac and Apple Watch,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “Revenue from Services grew strongly over last year, led by record customer activity on the App Store, and we are very excited about the products in our pipeline.”
Apple’s 2016 holiday sales include the bulk of iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus sales, as well as Apple Watch Series 1 and 2, AirPods and the recently released new USB-C MacBook Pro.
The Macbook line reported its highest ever quarterly sales and the iPad experienced double digit growth this past quarter despite reports earlier this year that interest in tablets continues to wane. The iPad currently has 85 percent share of the American market for tablets priced above $200 USD.
Entering new markets
In new markets however, Apple’s Services revenue reached $7.17 billion in the first quarter of 2017 rather than the previously predicted $6.91 billion.
This time last year, Apple also recorded a record breaking quarter and then proceeded to earn three straight quarters of lower sales.
Apple CEO Tim Cook mentioned during the earnings call that the company has begun experimenting with original content in Apple Music, though he did not indicate if Apple plans to expand these efforts further.
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