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Apple's Shares Rise On Better-Than-Expected iPhone Sales (fortune.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the strong-sales dept.

Apple reported a 7.2% rise in quarterly revenue on Tuesday, thanks to better-than-expected sales of its iPhones. "The company said iPhone sales rose 1.6% to 41.03 million in the third quarter ended July 1, above analysts' average estimate of 40.7 million units," reports Fortune. "Apple sold 40.4 million iPhones a year earlier." From the report: Apple's shares rose 4% in after-hours trading on Tuesday to $ 156.00. Many customers wait for Apple to launch its new smartphones before deciding on upgrading or replacing their current devices, which usually results in iPhone demand tapering in the months before a release. The company forecast total revenue of between $49 billion and $52 billion for the current quarter, while analysts on average were expecting $49.21 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. Analysts on average expect the company to sell 45.55 million iPhones in the current quarter, according to FactSet. Apple sold 45.51 million iPhones in the year-ago quarter.

32 of 60 comments (clear)

  1. Apple Trumps market by turkeydance · · Score: 1

    both better than expected

    1. Re:Apple Trumps market by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Apple was better than expected.

      Trump is still a fucking douchebag.

  2. Also ipads, etc by Camembert · · Score: 5, Informative

    There were a few other interesting tidbits learned from the earnings call:
    - after a long decline, ipad sales were significantly up at 15%, expected to rise more since the new ones were launched in june. Having replaced my early pleiocene ipad 2 with the new pro 10.5, I think that many will agree that it is an excellent tablet.
    - Mac sales were up too
    And more interestingly, looking at the future:
    - Cook expects great success with ARKit.
    - Cook informed that they have a big project ongoing in autonomous systems .

    1. Re:Also ipads, etc by unixisc · · Score: 2

      I think Mac sales are likely to go up, as problems w/ the new Windows 10 sales model becomes more transparent. Like I'm never gonna switch to an annual subscription for the OS. Also, the number of interesting things that can be done on PCs, as opposed to Macs, seems to be dwindling all the time (not counting web based applications)

      I recently upgraded both my iPhone & iPad to models that have 128GB storage, so that I don't have to micro-manage the storage. At this point, no phone or tablet w/ a mere 32GB storage will do: 64GB ought to be the minimum entry level device.

    2. Re:Also ipads, etc by TheFakeTimCook · · Score: 1

      Every product Apple has ever made since day one has been overpriced and with worse specs than competing products. But, you clearly demonstrate the problem: Apple Up the Ass Syndrome. Whereby you don't know that a whole universe of better products exist outside Apple's prison system.

      Sounds like jealousy to me.

      And EVERY product Apple has EVER made SINCE DAY ONE...

      So, we're also talking about products that had no actual "peer" when Apple produced them, too? How were THOSE "inferior", since there were no equivalents when Apple announced them?

  3. How many of those iPhone sales... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    How many of those "better than expected" iPhone sales were channel "presales" to MVNOs and the like? I smell a return of the Apple from the mid-90s when they were able for a few years to meet their growth and revenue targets by stuffing their retail channel.

    It could just be oddly coincidental that I'm seeing so many "deals" on iPhones now for switching to this carrier or that, or just $150 prepaid for a new iPhone SE tied to boost or virgin when it retails for $400.

    1. Re:How many of those iPhone sales... by TheFakeTimCook · · Score: 1

      How many of those "better than expected" iPhone sales were channel "presales" to MVNOs and the like? I smell a return of the Apple from the mid-90s when they were able for a few years to meet their growth and revenue targets by stuffing their retail channel.

      It could just be oddly coincidental that I'm seeing so many "deals" on iPhones now for switching to this carrier or that, or just $150 prepaid for a new iPhone SE tied to boost or virgin when it retails for $400.

      That's the funny thing about Apple: They ONLY count actual END-USER sales; not sales into their "Distribution Channel".

      So, unlike others (looking at you, Samsung!), Apple's sales numbers don't "count" until there is an actual, END-USER purchase.

  4. Here's a theory by viperidaenz · · Score: 2

    Perhaps sales haven't tapered off because old shiney does everything that consumers thing new shiney will deliver, so why wait?

    1. Re:Here's a theory by viperidaenz · · Score: 1

      or after reading TFA, new shiney is expected to cost a lot more than old shiney

      Apple is widely tipped to adopt higher-resolution OLED displays for the latest iPhone, along with better touchscreen technology and wireless charging - which could come with a $1,000 plus price tag.

      Current price for the big iPhone seems to be $769. That's a big jump in price.

    2. Re:Here's a theory by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      People like to buy phones that get security updates for five years rather than disposable Android shit that you have to throw out after 18 months because an unpatched vulnerability lets the whole planet spy on you.

    3. Re:Here's a theory by Just+Some+Guy · · Score: 1

      That's a speculated price for the rumored "iPhone Pro" (speculated name) model. It's speculated that the anticipated iPhone 7S and 7S Plus models will be in line with their predecessors.

      It's all just guessing until they make the formal announcement.

      --
      Dewey, what part of this looks like authorities should be involved?
  5. Everyone is in a rush... by dbialac · · Score: 3, Funny

    to buy a 6S while they can still get a phone with a headphone jack. I just bought one today for that exact reason. Tried a 7, kept wanting to listen to music only to remember, wait, I don't have the adapter on me.

    1. Re:Everyone is in a rush... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      I have had a 6S since about a month after it was released. I've never plugged anything in the headphone port.

    2. Re: Everyone is in a rush... by dbialac · · Score: 1

      1) People who's cars aren't brand new 2) People who listen to music for longer than the batteries last on Bluetooth headphones 3) People who go into the wilderness where fewer batteries mean less weight and recharging isn't easy 4) People who DJ because you can't mix when there is a delay between the live feed and their headphones 5) Audiophiles because Bluetooth headphones don't provide anywhere near the quality that real headphones do because they recompress the audio 6) Anyone who wants their battery on their phone to last longer I can keep going, but the point is it was an exceptionally stupid decision by Apple to drop it. Headphones weren't and aren't obsolite, nor are they going to be. Nearly every other manufacturer has backpedaled from dropping it because people want a headphone jack on a music device.

    3. Re: Everyone is in a rush... by thereitis · · Score: 1

      Sure, with a big, ugly adapter. Better than nothing but hardly ideal.

    4. Re: Everyone is in a rush... by dbialac · · Score: 1

      The question I was answering was, "Who the hell doesn't have bluetooth headphones at this point?" Also, note my previous comment about frequently not having the adapter.

    5. Re:Everyone is in a rush... by unixisc · · Score: 1

      to buy a 6S while they can still get a phone with a headphone jack. I just bought one today for that exact reason. Tried a 7, kept wanting to listen to music only to remember, wait, I don't have the adapter on me.

      Why now, though? The 7 has been out for several months now, and people who didn't already know saw what it doesn't have. They could have snapped up a 6 or even a 5s during that time.

      One thing that puzzles me - if this is such a great innovation for the 7, why don't they also do it on the iPads and iPods? Have a common headphone/speaker infrastructure? I recently bought a Nano as well, which they are about to end, and even that doesn't have this.

    6. Re:Everyone is in a rush... by unixisc · · Score: 1

      I don't. Simple reason: I have perfectly good headphones whose only 'drawback' is the aux cable. At home, I do have a good Bluetooth speaker that was gifted to me, but it too has an aux cable just in case the music player doesn't have Bluetooth. In the car, I have a USB port that connects to an iPod player on the navigation system: that's where my Nano lives. The car does have a Bluetooth enabled navigation as well, but I normally connect my phone to that.

      In the past, I tried out some wireless headphones, which have a female slot for an aux cable, but those play the radio when not connected to anything, but can sometimes be pretty noisy. I'm not willing to pay much more for Bluetooth headphones.

    7. Re:Everyone is in a rush... by unixisc · · Score: 1

      On my 7, I've never used a headphone. I've sometimes used it w/ my Bluetooth speaker, but aside from that, as far as music goes, I've used it in the car, both in Bluetooth and in iPod mode (w/ the car's iPod player).

    8. Re:Everyone is in a rush... by Just+Some+Guy · · Score: 3, Funny

      Tried a 7, kept wanting to listen to music only to remember, wait, I don't have the adapter on me.

      ...but forgot to look in the box it came in to find the adapter that it shipped with.

      --
      Dewey, what part of this looks like authorities should be involved?
    9. Re: Everyone is in a rush... by TheFakeTimCook · · Score: 2

      Sure, with a big, ugly adapter. Better than nothing but hardly ideal.

      If you think the Apple Lightning headphone adapter is "big", that must be from referring to your micropenis as "big", too:

      https://www.apple.com/shop/pro...

      Now STFU, you ignorant tool.

    10. Re:Everyone is in a rush... by TheFakeTimCook · · Score: 1

      to buy a 6S while they can still get a phone with a headphone jack. I just bought one today for that exact reason. Tried a 7, kept wanting to listen to music only to remember, wait, I don't have the adapter on me.

      Why now, though? The 7 has been out for several months now, and people who didn't already know saw what it doesn't have. They could have snapped up a 6 or even a 5s during that time.

      One thing that puzzles me - if this is such a great innovation for the 7, why don't they also do it on the iPads and iPods? Have a common headphone/speaker infrastructure? I recently bought a Nano as well, which they are about to end, and even that doesn't have this.

      Because, like with the MacBook Pro (which has a 3.5mm jack, even in the 2017 model), people don't generally drop their iPad in the water like people do with their phones. As far as iPods go, I would imagine the next gen. iPod touch will lose the 3.5 mm jack as well. It just hasn't caught up, yet.

    11. Re: Everyone is in a rush... by thereitis · · Score: 1

      That IS fucking big. Stop making excuses, fanboi.

    12. Re: Everyone is in a rush... by TheFakeTimCook · · Score: 1

      That IS fucking big. Stop making excuses, fanboi.

      Relative to WHAT? A FLEA?

      Do you have any sense of scale? Do you know how small a LIghtning connector "tongue" is? You can use that to judge the rest of the adapter's size. Or are you counting the short cable as part of it? That's there for convenience. Obviously, the whole thing could have been put in one, rigid body; but that wouldn't be as useful for the user, dumbfuck.

      Do you know what 3.5mm looks like? (Hint: Look in your pants).

      And oh, BTW, because you are too stupid to figure this out on your own, the 3.5 mm end has to be LONG enough to actually PLUG IN a 3.5 mm PLUG from the headphone/headset. You didn't think of that one, did you? Of course not, dumbass.

      If that is so egregiously big, then I just can't fathom how you deal with other, everyday objects, like a pen, a fork, or, God forbid, a pair of over-the-ear headphones!

      I actually pity someone with as tenuous a grip on reality as you.

  6. did they lay out how much of the sales were che.. by gl4ss · · Score: 1

    did they lay out how much of the sales were cheaper devices?

    I know apple doesn't huff or puff about it too much, but a lot of what they are selling in asia(through operators, no less)

    --
    world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
  7. Re:did they lay out how much of the sales were che by gl4ss · · Score: 1

    ..edit..

    a lot of what they sell in asia are cheaper devices that are generation or 3(!) old.

    --
    world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
  8. Bathroom costs by unixisc · · Score: 1

    While I'm not an advocate of those, transgender bathrooms would be lower in cost. Get rid of urinals, have all commodes isolated, and not have any gender specific features, and those would be simpler to make. I've not, however, seen one that allows for more than one person: Starbucks, for instance, just has gender neutral bathrooms to neatly sidestep the issue

  9. Re: Piles of Cash... by backslashdot · · Score: 1

    That much cash has got to attract vultures.

  10. "brand new" by SuperKendall · · Score: 1

    1) People who's cars aren't brand new

    Name a car sold in the last six years that didn't come with a USB port or bluetooth for audio.

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
    1. Re:"brand new" by rthille · · Score: 1

      I think my Tacoma is much older than 6 years, it's got 170K miles on it, but I don't remember what year. It didn't come with USB, nor Bluetooth.

      However, for $99 and about an hour of my time I put an aftermarket stereo in it with Bluetooth and USB. Totally worth it.

      --
      Awesome furniture, accessories and cabinetry in Santa Rosa, CA: http://humanity-home.com/
  11. Re: Piles of Cash... by SuperKendall · · Score: 1

    That much cash can also buy a lot of anti-vulture defense systems. Perhaps from U.S. Robotics.

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
  12. The Apple conspiracy theory by Tjp($)pjT · · Score: 1

    Apple announced through unofficial leaks that IR face recognition would replace touch-ID and even floated a few models without touchID ability. This caused people who like the feature to upgrade from 5/6 series to 7 series phones keeping the iPhone sales flat. When the official announcement is made where TouchID is still present they will be disappointed but other fence sitters will fill in and boost iPhone sales. Smart hypothetical strategy.

    --
    - Tjp

    I am in wallow with my inner money grubbing capitalistic pig. ... Oink!