Apple has announced the biggest ever quarterly profit by a public company, after a stellar performance following the sale of 74.5m iPhone 6 smartphones which surpassed all expectations.
The tech giant has reported quarterly revenues of $18bn (£11.8bn) during the quarter ending December 27, profits that are driven by impressive revenues from products including iPhones, Macs and App Store purchases (the latter‘s best recorded sales yet).
Sales of the iPad remained tough however, with single unit sales dropping 18% to 21.4m, as Apple‘s tablet computer faces intense competition from cheaper devices and upgrade delays for existing customers.
Income for the technology specialist grew 30% over the last year to $74.6bn (£48bn).
Sales of the iPhone jumped 46% over the prior year in the crucial holiday shopping quarter, fuelled by the highest number of first-time buyers since the smartphone launched in 2007. It is being said by analysts that these results bring Apple close to taking back its title from Samsung as the world‘s largest smartphone maker, by volumes.
Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook, cited the demand for iPhones as “staggering”, commenting that it shattered the already “high expectations”.
“Demand [for iPhones] has been so strong we haven‘t been able to reach supply and demand balance until this month,” Luca Maestri, Chief Financial Officer said.
Cook added “This volume is hard to comprehend.”
