Revenue, profit and iPhone sales all hit record first quarter levels, but only just
Apple yet again reported record Q1 financial results, but sales and profits were only up slightly from a year ago.
For the three months ending December 26, 2015, revenue increased two per cent to $75.872 billion ($53.067 billion), while profits were up from $18 billion (£12.59 billion) to $18.4 billion (£12.87 billion).
Apple iPhone sales rose by just 300,000 units from Q1 2015 to 74.779 million in the quarter, with revenue rising marginally to $51.635 billion (£36.11 billion).
It saw its biggest growth in Greater China, with revenue jumping 14 per cent year-on-year and by almost half (47 per cent) from the previous quarter to $18.373 billion (£12.85 billion).
China launch debut
The iPhone 6s and 6s Plus went on sale at launch in China – the world’s fastest growing smartphone market with around 1.3 billion users – last September, the first time it has done so in its eight year history.
Apple sold a record 13 million of the new devices across 12 countries over the opening weekend, with analysts estimating sales of between 2-3 million units in China.
The iPad continued to struggle, with unit sales of 16.122 million on revenue of $7.084 billion (£4.95 billion) – falling 25 per cent and 21 per cent respectively.
Apple’s ‘Other Products’ category, which includes the Apple Watch, saw revenue jump 26 per cent year-on-year to $6.056 billion (£4.23 billion), although unit sales were again not revealed.
One billion active users
The manufacturer also revealed its active installed base of iPhone, iPad, Mac, iPod, Apple TV and Apple Watch users recently hit the one billion milestone recently within a 90 day period.
Apple CEO Tim Cook (pictured) said: “Our team delivered Apple’s biggest quarter ever, thanks to the world’s most innovative products and all-time record sales of iPhone, Apple Watch and Apple TV.
“The growth of our Services business accelerated during the quarter to produce record results, and our installed base recently crossed a major milestone of one billion active devices.”
For its next quarter, Apple is forecasting revenue of between $50 billion and $53 billion, with gross margin between 39 per cent and 39.5 per cent.
