Apple boss Tim Cook hails results as ‘most successful year ever’

Smart phone maker Apple Inc has reported a 31 per cent increase in its net profit at $11.1 billion for the fiscal fourth quarter ended 26 September 2105, on the back of record quarterly revenue of $51.5 billion.

“Sales for iPhone 6S Plus have been phenomenal, blowing past any previous first weekend sales results in Apple’s history”, said Apple CEO Tim Cook in a press statement.

The Greater China region accounted for $12.5 billion of the total, up 99% year-on-year, cementing its place as Apple’s second-largest region behind the Americas, which accounted for $21.8 billion of the company’s Q4 revenue.

For the full year, net profit at Apple grew 35 per cent to $53.4bn on sales which over the same period rose 28 per cent to $234bn.

Apple managed to sell 48.05 million iPhones, backed by strong demand for its new iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus. While the PC market is struggling, with sales down 7.7 percent year-on-year despite the release of Windows 10, Apple continues to buck the trend, selling a record 5.71 million Macs during the three-month period. Sales of iPhones reached a fourth-quarter record and the company said it sold more Macs than ever.

The gains don’t reflect sales of the new iPhone 6S and 6S plus, which went on sales only in the last two days of the quarter. He further added that Apple Pay has also been witnessing a double-digit growth on a month-on-month basis and announced that the company is partnering with American Express to bring Apple Pay to “eligible customers in key global markets”. This time last year, Apple was able to hit the 12 million devices sold mark – 2 million higher than this year’s numbers for the Apple tablet. Booming iPhone sales in China have boosted its revenue growth as well.

He also said he was confident that Apple was heading into the traditionally bust holiday period with what he described as “our strongest product line-up yet”, including the new Apple TV which begins shipping this week.

When it came down to the Apple Watch, however, the company remained a bit cagey on the details.