Apple has returned another blockbuster set of results for the first quarter of the calendar year, its second best ever three months. Then iPhone again leads the charge, particularly in China which now accounts for greater sales than the whole of Europe. Macs are also doing exceptionally well while iPads record another year-on-year fall.
Revenues in the quarter reached a staggering $58bn and profit was $13.6bn. These figures compare with $45.6bn and $10.2bn in the same quarter last year.
Jason Snell’s Six Colours blog today carries some excellent charts which track the year-on-year progress, strongly emphasising the runaway success of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus.
The company has announced that it will increase the capital buy-back programme and returns to shareholders through to 2017, with $200bn earmarked for the period.
Clear star of the show is the iPhone 6 and, probably more than even Apple expected, the 6 Plus. To some extent the success of the larger phone explains the relatively poor iPad sales figures, althoug Tim Cook thinks the tablet has more potential. I suspect a significant amount of cannibalisation, particularly of the smaller iPad mini, has taken place over the past six months.
Many, including me, are questioning the need for an iPad because the Plus does almost the same job. In fact, I suspect the new, light MacBook will eat into sales of the larger iPad Air. Average selling price of iPads is down, reflecting the greater competition in the market. In contrast, average selling prices of iPhone remain sky high. It’s a salutary fact that Apple now makes more moneys from selling Macs than from iPads.