Apple sets Q1 record: $75.9B revenue, 75M…

That’s up 25% year-on-year, but it’s a figure covering iPhones, iPads, Macs, Apple TVs and Apple Watches.

Earlier this month, post the holiday season, Apple revealed that it had witnessed “the biggest ever” holiday season for the App store with customers spending $1.1 billion on apps and in-app purchases over the two-week period which ended January 3.

The total number of active Apple devices in the world have crossed 1 billion, their quarterly report said.

But the company’s performance was still enough to break the profit record set this time past year, with sales up 56 per cent on the last quarter too. Among these are Apple TV STBs, Beats headphones, iPods, and Apple watches. The iPhone may still dominate Apple’s overall business – it accounted for 68 percent of revenue in Apple’s first quarter – and with the so-called iPhone 7 likely to launch later this year, it will continue to be the point on which Apple pivots.

Leading up to Apple’s earnings announcement, analysts were anticipating Apple’s quarterly revenue to check in at $76.6 billion, with quarterly profits and EPS checking in at $18.2 billion and $3.23, respectively.

Kent German, from consumer technology website CNET, said: “Apple had a record quarter profit past year – any other company would be jumping up and down”.

In its first quarter of this year, Apple sold 74.8 million iPhones – a new record – compared with 74.47 million over the same period last year. But, even Tim Cook has admitted during the latest investor call that “iPhone sales will decline in the (second) quarter”.

“In Q2 previous year, the company recorded $58 billion in revenue – meaning Apple’s upcoming quarter could be the first negative growth quarter in recent memory”, TechCrunch noted.

Revenue in the first three months of the year will be $50 billion to $53 billion according to company guidance which is well below analysts’ estimates for $55.5 billion.

It was also a huge drop when compared to the 46 per cent growth in sales reported for the same quarter, last year.

Cook’s reply: “No, I don’t think it’s a niche”. And that product, which was supposed to be the third leg of the stool for Apple’s long-term growth – alongside the Mac and the iPhone – has been shrinking like insane.