Apple posted the biggest profit in corporate history last
quarter after selling a record number of iPhones. Apple sold 74.5 million
iPhones in the last three months. That helped Apple's profit soar more than 37%
to $18 billion. That's larger than Gazprom's $16.2 billion profit during the first
quarter of 2011 -- the previous profit record posted by a corporation.
Apple also posted a stunning $74.6 billion in sales, up
nearly 30% from the same period last year. That's not close to a global
corporate record, but it's the best quarterly revenue Apple ever posted. Cook
noted that Apple sold an average of 34,000 iPhones every hour. The iPhone is
already the single best-selling gadget of all time. But this past quarter, the
iPhone outsold some gadgets made by entire industries.
The whole TV industry sold fewer than 60 million televisions
last quarter, according to IHS. The tablet industry sold just 54 million
tablets, IDC reported. Apple had never sold more than 51 million iPhones in a
quarter, which it accomplished a year ago. But that was before the deal with
China's biggest mobile provider, China Mobile, which went into effect in
the first quarter of 2014.
That deal benefited Apple in a big way last quarter. Apple's
China sales soared 70% last quarter. Making such gigantic inroads in China was
once believed impossible. Apple's brand did not hold the same cache as some
Chinese smartphone makers, including Xiaomi, Lenovo and Huawei. And those
brands heavily discount their phones, making them far more accessible to the
masses than Apple makes the iPhone.
Apple also rolled out the new iPhone 6 to other countries
last quarter faster than it had in previous years, helping Apple boost its
iPhone sales. The iPhone 6 is available in 130 countries. Apple also said its
supplier efficiencies helped the company manufacture 7 million more iPhones
than it had expected to make last quarter.
The iPhone 6 has proven extremely popular with customers who
were holding out for a bigger Apple smartphone. The 4.7-inch screen competes
much better with some larger Android smartphones, and the superior camera has
helped some would-be defectors stick with the iPhone brand.
The new iPhone didn't just grow Apple's smartphone volume --
it also grew revenue by convincing customers to spend more money on their
devices. Even better for Apple, Jeffrey
expects that about half of all customers spent an extra $100 on their iPhone 6
and 6 Plus devices to upgrade to 64 gigabytes of storage -- four times the
amount of the standard 16 GB model.
Apple has more potential billion-dollar products on the way.
Tim Cook announced Tuesday that the Apple Watch will go on sale in April.
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