Apple reports record-breaking results for Q4

China contributed $12.5 billion in revenue which was down by five percent from the past quarter.

The results announcement forecast that sales from October to December would be between $75.5 billion and $77.5 billion, only about a 1 percent increase from the same period in the previous year.

Apple is expected to reveal early sales figures for the new iPhone 6s when it announces its financial results tonight, but analysts predict it will not beat last year’s record-breaking iPhone 6 numbers in the long term.

The after-tax profit increased from last year’s result of $US8.4 billion.

Apple said sales in Greater China hit $12.52 billion (£8.2 billion) in its fourth quarter, more than double the level of a year ago and making up a quarter of its total revenue. It now has the challenge of keeping up momentum in the most important quarter of the year – the Christmas period – which is traditionally the strongest three months in the company’s calendar.

Apple CEO Tim Cook summed it up in the simplest way he could: fiscal 2015 is the company’s most successful year ever. Last month, Apple introduced its newest generation of iPhones the 6s and sibling 6s Plus. Following the announcement of fiscal fourth quarter endings, Apple said it sold 48.04 million iPhones, surpassing sales of 39.27 million units in 2014.

Apple paid $17 billion to investors during the most recent quarter through share repurchases and dividends, and CFO Luca Maestri noted that Apple has completed more than $143 billion of its $200 billion capital-return programme.

The growth was fueled by record fourth quarter sales of iPhone®, the expanded availability of Apple Watch®, and all-time records for Mac® sales and revenue from services.

iPad units sold dropped from approximately 11 million to 10 million from Q3 to Q4 2015.

Going forward, Apple is expecting a better quarter owing to the holiday season.

Secondly, while it still feels like Apple sometimes favours its USA customers with new features, it’s the global sales that are really giving it gusto: 62% of revenue was generated outside of the United States this quarter.