Apple Reports Record Results: $18.4B Profit on $75.9B in Revenue

Apple sold 74,8 million iPhones, only 300,000 more than the same quarter a year ago.

iPad sales continue to decline despite the launch of the iPad Pro, with Apple recording just 16.1 million sales in the past quarter compared to 21.4 million the previous year.

The Mac is also slipping, from 5.5 million units sold last year to 5.3 million this year. Quarterly revenue would have been $5 billion higher in constant currency, Apple said, but the decline in value of currencies relative to the USA dollar has made Apple products significantly more expensive than they had been in certain regions.

Apple reported that, overall, a billion iPhones, iPads, Macintosh computers, iPod touch devices Apple TV units, and Apple Watch wearable computers had “engaged” with its services in the past three months.

This period obviously encomapasses the all-important holiday sales season, when Apple traditionally shifts a lot of devices.

Apple management said they expect between $50 billion and $53 billion in revenue for the March quarter, coming up short of the consensus estimate of $55.64 billion. That would put it below the $58 billion it reported in Q2 2015 and would mark the first year-over-year decline in revenue for the company in years. Apple saw more people switch to iPhone from Android than at any other point in its history, he said.

Revenue rose 1.7% to $75.87 billion from $74.6 billion in the same period a year earlier.

iPhone growth in the just-announced first fiscal quarter of 2016 was the slowest since the smartphone’s introduction in 2007.

Maestri attributed the lackluster revenue to foreign exchange headwinds caused by the strong USA dollar, which he said knocked about $5 billion off the company’s revenue.

In recent months, the Silicon Valley giant has been facing doubt from investors anxious that Apple’s hypergrowth will slow down.

But analysts warn the economic slowdown in Asia will cut into Apple’s growth going forward. Along with first-time buyers and people who switch from competitors’ phones, analysts say Apple can count on a loyal base of iPhone owners who will buy a new model every two years or so.