Believing sales of the iPhone had peaked in the face of high-end offerings from competitors in a market apparently nearing saturation point, many analysts were expecting sales of Apple’s handset for Q3 to be around the 26-27 million mark. They were wrong.
Not only did sales exceed expectations, they even set a new record for the June quarter. The tech giant sold 31.2 million iPhones in the three months from April to June, up from 26 million a year ago.
Sales of its handset in the US reportedly rose by 51 percent on 12 months earlier, while in Japan the figure was even higher, at 66 percent.
As Apple released its financial results for the three-month period, boss Tim Cook said the company was “especially proud” of its record June quarter for iPhone sales.
Not all good news
It wasn’t all good news, however. The Cupertino company said it sold 14.6 million iPads in Q3 compared to 17 million in the same quarter a year ago, falling well below analyst expectations of 18.3 million. It also sold 3.8 million Macs, compared to 4 million 12 months earlier.
Apple posted quarterly revenue of $35.3 billion ($35 billion a year ago) and a quarterly net profit of $6.9 billion ($8.8 billion a year ago).
One area of concern for the Cupertino company will be the news that revenue from China – one of Apple’s most important markets – plummeted by 43 percent compared to the second quarter and by 14 percent on a year earlier, though Cook said during a conference call that he doesn’t get discouraged “over a 90-day kind of cycle.”
In a statement, the CEO said Apple is “laser-focused and working hard on some amazing new products” that it expects to introduce in the fall and across 2014. Of course, he didn’t offer up any detailed information, though we guess he’s talking about the iWatch, while new iPhones – including possibly a budget model – and iPads are also expected in this time frame.
While Apple executives will be especially pleased with the way the iPhone is continuing to perform, they’ll also be hoping these “amazing new products” will be enough to impress consumers waiting for the next big thing, delivering an even bigger boost to the coffers over the next 12 months.
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