Apple has announced record profits in the first fiscal quarter ending December on the back of strong demand for iPhones. Apple disclosed that it recorded $78.35 billion in sales leading to a profit of $17.8 billion.
The actual Q1 revenue is an all-time record, the company stated in the earnings call. Apple says it had record sales for iPhone and Apple Watch this quarter while services business continues to drive the bottomline. Back in October, Apple announced its third quarterly decline in iPhone sales and offered stronger guidance. Today's earnings result brings a new boost to the company's struggle with the sale of its flagship products.
In the quarter ending December, Apple sold 78.29 million units of iPhone, a 5 percent growth from same quarter last year. Apple says average selling price of iPhone came in at $695 thanks to stronger demand for iPhone 7 Plus. Apple iPhone 7 Plus starts at $769 and offers bigger display, larger battery and dual rear cameras. For the first time, Apple also made iPhone 7 series water and dust resistant.
"We’re thrilled to report that our holiday quarter results generated Apple’s highest quarterly revenue ever, and broke multiple records along the way. We sold more iPhones than ever before and set all-time revenue records for iPhone, Services, Mac and Apple Watch," said Apple CEO Tim Cook.
Apple sold 5.37 million Macs and 13.08 million iPad in this quarter. While revenue from Mac sales grew 7 percent year-on-year that from iPad declined 22 percent. Apple is expected to unveil three new iPads later this year in order to fuel the sales and overall demand for tablet as a category.
Apple says it sold record number of Apple Watch this quarter but didn't disclose exact numbers. The company's other products category which includes Apple Watch, newly introduced AirPods saw a decline of 8 percent in terms of revenue. For Apple, the silver lining continues to be services business which once again recorded a growth of 18 percent. The services revenue came in at $7.17 billion and CEO Tim Cook says there was record activity on the App Store.
In terms of regional distribution, the revenues from greater China declined 12 percent while Americas was up by 9 percent. The company also revealed that it spent $2.87 billion on research and development activity in this quarter.
Apple's Q1 earnings marks the first full quarter when the newly announced iPhone 7 was available for sale. As expected, the company projects demand to drop in the next quarter. Apple expects revenue in the second quarter to come in at $51.5-53.5 billion.