Apple has decided to return another $100 billion to shareholders from its huge cash pile as solid iPhone sales helped revenues rise 16% to just over $61 billion.
The tech giant sold 52.2 million iPhones in the Q1 of 3018 – only a touch below expectations, despite waning global demand for smart phones.
Revenues at Apple’s services business that includes Apple Music and the App Store jumped almost a third to $9.1 billion.
Apple has about $145 billion in the bank, but plans to return the cash to investors.
After the announcement, the company’s shares rose 3% in after-hours trading on Wall Street.
Apple, flush with a huge cash pile on strong earnings boosted by the US tax cut plan of 2017, also announced a 16% boost to its quarterly dividend.
That came on top of $22.8 billion in buybacks executed in the Q4 of 2017.
Overall, the company reported a 3% rise in the number of phones sold, while revenue from phones jumped 14%, reflecting more expensive models.
Some analysts had questioned whether demand for the most expensive iPhone would hold up after the initial rush.
However, Apple said the iPhone X was the best-selling model in every week of the quarter – despite costing almost $1,000.
The iPhone’s average selling prices came in at $728, below analyst expectations of $742.
On a call with financial analysts, Apple’s CEO Tim Cook dismissed concerns about soft demand for smart phones, pointing to the millions of people who still do not own one.
He said on a call with investors: “We still believe that over time every phone sold will be a smart phone, so it seems to us… that’s a pretty big opportunity.”
The iPhone continues to account for the bulk of Apple’s revenues at just over 62% of the total. Sales of iPads rose 2% to 9.1 million units compared with the same period last year, while Mac sales slipped 3% to 4.07 million.
Apple’s services unit added 30 million subscriptions in the last three months alone, bringing the total to 270 million.
The company’s overall profits in the quarter were $13.8 billion, up a quarter from the same period in 2017.
Apple’s revenue hit a record for the Q1 of 2018, which follows the Christmas rush and is traditionally one of the company’s weaker periods.
Sales growth of more than 20% in Japan and the greater China market – a critical area for the company – helped to lift the numbers.
iPhone sales dropped for a second consecutive quarter, Apple has reported.
However, the 15% drop was not as bad as analysts had feared.
Apple sold 40.4 million iPhones in its third quarter, slightly above forecasts of 40.02 million.
CEO Tim Cook said the results reflected “stronger customer demand… than we anticipated”.
Apple said it expected sales to fall again in Q4 to between $45.5 billion and $47.5 billion.
Demand for Apple’s flagship product has been slowing since the second quarter when the company reported the first drop in iPhone sales since their 2007 launch.
The iPhone makes up for around two-thirds of Apple’s sales and accounts for even more of its profits.
The slowdown in iPhone sales sent profit down 27% to $7.8 billion in the three months to June 25, while revenues fell 14.6% to $42.4 billion.
Apple’s sales in Greater China – defined by the company as China, Hong Kong and Taiwan – plunged 33%.
The company blamed economic uncertainty and people not upgrading their phones as often for the drop.
China accounts for almost a quarter of Apple’s sales, more than all of Europe combined.
Apple chief financial officer Luca Maestri said: “It is very clear that there are some signs of economic slowdown in China, and we will have to work through them.
“We understand China well and we remain very, very optimistic about the future there.”
Results were also hit by the impact of a stronger dollar.
Nonetheless, shares, which have fallen almost 20% over the past year, rose over 7% in after-hours trading because Apple’s overall performance was not as bad as analysts had expected.
Luca Maestri said comparisons to the second quarter of 2015, when iPhone 6 sales surged 35%, made its performance seem worse than it was.
He also pointed to its services business, which includes the App Store, Apple Pay, iCloud and other services, as a bright spot.
The division made nearly $6 billion in revenue, up 18.9% from the same time last year, and is now Apple’s second-largest sales generator after the iPhone.
Tech giant Apple has reported the slowest growth in iPhone sales since the product’s 2007 launch.
It also warned iPhone sales will fall for the first time later this year.
Apple sold 74.8 million iPhones in its fiscal first quarter, compared with 74.5 million a year ago.
The company said revenue for the next quarter would be between $50 billion (€46 billion) and $53 billion, below the $58 billion it reported for the same period a year ago.
This would mark Apple’s first fall in revenues since it launched the iPhone.
Despite first-quarter iPhone sales being below the 75 million expected by analysts, it was still a record quarter for the company.
Apple revenue in the three months to December 26 was $75.9 billion and net profit was $18.4 billion, both of which are the highest ever recorded by the company.
Sales of iPhones accounted for 68% of the company’s revenue in the period.
Photo AP
Apple CEO Tim Cook credited “all-time record sales of iPhone, Apple Watch and Apple TV” for the performance.
However, CFO Luca Maestri said the company was operating in “a very difficult macroeconomic environment”.
He added that “iPhone units will decline in the quarter” and that Apple was not projecting beyond those three months.
Luca Maestri partly blamed the strong US dollar for Apple’s flat sales, estimating it had knocked $5 billion off the company’s revenues.
Apple’s sales in Greater China – defined by the company as China, Hong Kong and Taiwan – rose 14%, but that was much slower than the 70% increase a year ago.
Luca Maestri said the softness in China was “something that we have not seen before”, Reuters reported.
China accounts for almost a quarter of Apple’s sales, more than all of Europe combined.
The profitability of Apple’s business improved, with gross margin – or how much the company makes per product – increasing to 40.1%.
Speaking to analysts, Tim Cook said Apple had “the mother of all balance sheets” and that its financial position had never been stronger.
Apple’s shares were down 2.7% in after hours trading at $97.28.
Apple has posted a record jump in profits in Q2 2015 as demand for iPhones soared.
However, Apple’s shares fell in after-hours trading after revenue forecasts disappointed analysts.
Apple sold 47.5 million iPhones in the quarter to June 27, up 35% on a year ago, with Mac computer sales up 9% to 4.8 million.
CEO Tim Cook called it “an amazing quarter”.
Profits rose 38% to $10.7 billion, while revenue was up 33% to $49.6 billion.
The third quarter is typically the slowest for iPhone sales because many customers put off buying new phones, on the expectation of a new model.
Despite the strong results, shares fell 6.7%, or $8.85, to $121.89 in after-market trading in New York.
Analysts blamed the fall on disappointment about Apple’s revenue forecasts for the fourth quarter, which were slightly lower than expected, as well as the firm’s profits being too heavily dependent on the iPhone.
Apple is forecasting revenue to be between $49 billion and $51 billion in the fourth quarter.
Demand for iPad tablets remained weak, with Apple selling 10.9 million, down 18% from a year earlier.
However, Tim Cook also said the Apple Watch had had a “great start”, in the first indication of how well the company’s first piece of wearable technology was selling.
Apple’s chief executive said last autumn that he did not want to reveal detailed figures for the watch, which went on sale on April 24, to avoid giving competitors inside information.
Apple said that revenue from “other products”, which includes the watch as well as products such as the iPod and its Beats headphones, came to $2.6 billion – about $952 million higher than the previous quarter.
Chief financial officer Luca Maestri said that revenue from the watch amounted to “well over'” that $952 million increase.
Sales of the watch in the first nine weeks had exceeded those of both the iPhone and iPad after they were first launched, he added.
Apple said its gross margin – the difference between the amount it spends on making the products versus how much consumers pay – was 39.7%, up slightly on a year ago.
The technology giant also continued to do well in the China market – defined by Apple as China, Hong Kong and Taiwan.
Sales doubled year-on-year and accounted for more than a quarter of Apple’s total third-quarter sales.
The jump should help to reassure investors that demand in China remains robust despite fears the market is close to saturation point.
The iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, which smashed iPhone sales records when they were launched last year, are now 10 months old.
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