Apple hits a new record

Revenue of Apple China rose 14 percent year on year to US$18.4 billion in Apple’s first fiscal quarter ended on December 26, below Apple China’s almost 100 percent growth in the previous quarter.

Technology giant Apple announced Tuesday that its first quarter revenue increased to record levels, despite slowing sales of its flagship iPhone devices.

The tech company predicted its second-quarter revenue to be around $50 billion to $53 bn. Apple has been reluctant to pursue the lower ends of the market, McGregor noted. In constant currency, growth would have been 8%, or about $80.8 billion, he said.

Cook also told media about the hope for the company.

The “other products” segment, which includes the Apple Watch and Apple TV, had revenues of $4.4 billion. Its profit for the quarter was $18.4 billion, up by nearly $400 billion year-over-year.

In a statement, Apple said that they have sold 74.8 million iPhones in first quarter of the fiscal.

Even so, Apple is touting this stat as a reason why its services business – music included – remains undervalued. Excluding the lawsuit, this amounts to about $5.5 billion, an increase of 15% year over year. The number of customers engaging in App Store transactions has grown 18% since the same period a year ago.

The final quarter of 2015 provided another financial record for Apple, but only just. Revenue guidance is slightly below analyst expectations. Worldwide sales accounted for 66% of the quarter’s revenue. For comparison purposes, Cupertino reported billion in revenue for Q2 2015.

Apple also predicts it will generate between $50bn and $53bn during the period.

The news was preceded by weeks of dark predictions, with media reports claiming Apple had cut manufacturing orders from the companies that build the iPhone because inventory of the smartphone was backing up in retail channels.

India is one of fastest growing handset markets globally and is poised to overtake the U.S. soon.

Daniel Ives, an analyst at Capital Markets who owns shares in Apple, said given the “white knuckles fears” ahead of the results, he would “characterise the overall headline performance as better than feared”.