SAN FRANCISCO – Surprising Wall Street forecasts, Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) has reached its highest revenue this quarter, surpassing 48 million iPhone sales.
The world’s largest company by market value, sold around 48.05 million iPhones worldwide in its fourth quarter due to a large success of the iPhones 6s and 6s Plus. Last year, when the the iPhone 6 and 6s came out for sale, Apple sold around 39 million devices. In comparison to last year’s quarter, the company reeled in a 22% increase in revenue, which would amount to $42.1 billion USD.
Luca Maestri, Chief Financial Officer, stated that Apple currently has 25 stores in China and pretends to open one roughly every month. Maestri also made reference to the company’s quarterly profits rising around 31% over last year, due to large iPhone sales in China. “We continue to have wonderful success there,” he told Reuters.
“[Fiscal year] 2015 was Apple’s most successful year ever, with revenue growing 28% to nearly $234 billion. This continued success is the result of our commitment to making the best, most innovative products on earth, and it’s a testament to the tremendous execution by our teams,” Apple’s CEO Tim Cook celebrated.
However, investors worry that China’s sales decreased from the quarter immediately before it, when Apple made around $13.2 billion in revenue in said country. Many analysts believe that the quarterly decline is important, as they believe China will replace the United States as Apple’s biggest market.
It seems the iPhone is the main cause for such high revenues. Last quarter, Apple’s iPad had its lowest sales numbers since 2011 and have continued to decrease. The company shipped around 9.8 million iPads last quarter, which according to Fast Company, “is a 20% decline from the same period last year”.
Nonetheless, the highly successful company is not anywhere near done for their revenues in 2015. The Apple TV is now available for preorder, just in time for Christmas sales. The 32GB version costs $149, whilst the 64GB sells for $199. “Our vision for TV is simple and perhaps a little provocative. We believe the future of television is apps.” stated Cook. This updated version of the Apple TV includes voice commands which enable Siri to search for content, a redesigned remote control, and Bluetooth controllers.
Sources: Reuters