Apple Sets a New Record For iPhone Sales (theverge.com)

Apple has reported strong financial results for the first quarter of 2017. According to CEO Tim Cook, the "holiday quarter results generated Apple's highest quarterly revenue ever, and broke multiple records along the way." The company took in $78.4 billion in revenue and sold 78 million iPhones. The Verge reports: Apple reported a profit of $17.8 billion, and said its earnings per share were boosted by the high demand for the larger models of its iPhones, which have higher margins. On the earnings call, Chief financial officer Luca Maestri said that customer satisfaction with iPads, and the new iPad pro, was very high. He predicted strong growth in that category. But the sales figures don't reflect that optimism, with unit sales and revenue from iPad both down around 20 percent year over year. With over a billion iOS devices active around the world, Apple has been able to shore up its flagging hardware sales growth with an increase in revenue from services to those devices. This includes money from Apple Pay, iCloud storage, Apple Music, and App Store sales. It was by far the fastest-growing segment of Apple's revenue this quarter, climbing 18 percent to $7.17 billion since the same period last year. Cook said Apple is aiming to double service revenue over the next four years. Maestri said Apple's App Store had double the revenue of Google's Play Store in 2016. Apple has more than $200 billion in cash parked overseas. Cook said on today's call that he was optimistic about tax reform in the U.S. happening this year, and that this might allow Apple to bring a lot of that money back home. "With our toe in the water, we're learning a lot about the original content business," Cook said, hinting at one way Apple might deploy all that capital.

Comments

Queue the headphone jack comments

[iotaborg]

According to slashdot, the iPhone 7 should have failed, just like the iPod.

Re:Queue the headphone jack comments

[Man On Pink Corner]

No headphone jack. Less combustible than a Samsung. Lame.

Re:Queue the headphone jack comments

[BarbaraHudson]

The iPhone 7 IS failing. Notice how Cook purposefully weaved his comment to avoid saying the truth - that the iPhone 6s has more demand:

the more-expensive iPhone 7 Plus made up a “higher portion of new product mix than we’ve ever seen with Plus models in the past,”

A direct comparison with products like the iPhone 6/6s are specifically excluded. All we can say from that comment is that the ratio of iPhone Plus models was higher than previous iterations, not that the iPhone 7 sold more.

Then again, Cook is no Steve Jobs. Steve Jobs brought "Gorilla Glass" to the masses. Tim Cook tried and failed with "Sapphire Glass". Steve Jobs was the iMac, iPad, iPhone, iPod - Cook was iWatch and iBuds - and dwindling sales of computers, iPads, and loss of market share for iPhones.

Jobs could have made the masses buy this bs thanks to his RDF. Cook - nope.

Re:Queue the headphone jack comments

[Anonymous Coward]

You know, that's a hard argument to make when a) plenty of people (including myself) have explained use cases for that port and b) there are devices with higher water resistance than iphone 7 and which DO include that jack.

Any day ... Any day now ...

[garote]

Sometime soon, I swear.
The company is balanced on a tiny wire, with all its appeal based on fashion and the whims of teenagers, and soon it will trip over itself, and totally bungle it's designs and delivery, on such an epic scale that the whole business will collapse like a soufflé and the stock will tank and huge layoffs will happen and everyone will walk away. And that prediction of demise that I made fifteen years ago will be COMPLETELY ACCURATE. The fact that they've had the most profitable year of any company in recorded history is just another nail in the coffin; you'll see...

Fudging the Math

[ghoul]

Apple had a 14 week Quarter as compared to a 13 week quarter and grew revenue 3.9%. So for a 7% longer period a 3.9% higher revenue looks like a drop . No wonder the profit dropped as 14 weeks means 7% more costs but only 3.9% more revenue so profit has to fall.