‘Tis the season for financial results, with many of the world’s leading technology companies releasing the latest instalments of how they have been performing. Apple was one of these, revealing a healthy spread of results showing that it had performed better than many observers expected.
Apple CEO Tim Cook described himself as ‘proud’ of the results, saying that he was looking forward to introducing new products and services in the future. But with so much information contained in the report, here are some things you may not have seen at first glance….
The iPhone is still exceedingly popular
Apple’s most popular product still provides over half of the company’s revenues, and saw a 17% rise compared to the same quarter in 2013. Despite pessimistic Wall Street estimates (which predicted quarterly sales of 37.7 million units), actual sales came in at 43.7 million units. This shows what an important part of the business handsets phones still are for Apple, emphasised by Cook during his earnings call as he stated that Apple was looking to target new markets outside of the US and China.
Some Apple products actually underperformed
Whilst iPhone results were better than expected, Apple actually disappointed when it came to iPad sales. Wall Street analyst estimates expected the company to sell around 19.7 million units, especially with recent discounts on certain models, but Apple only recorded 16.35 million units sold.
This may mean that we soon see further discounts on existing iPad lines, or the release of a new tablet being bumped up as the company looks to boost its numbers.
Apple has spent a lot on R&D in the last three months
Despite its excellent financial performance, Apple hasn’t actually released any new products since the iPhone 5S and 5C last September. However rumours are building around a new handset, the iPhone 6, as well as a potential ‘iWatch’, which would see Apple launch into the fast-growing wearable technology market.
This may all be about to change soon, however, as Apple revealed in its results that it had spent over $1,422m on Research and Development over the last three months, and $2,752m over the last six months. This is a serious amount of capital, and hopefully should mean we get to see some new products soon.
Cook also revealed that the company had acquired 24 companies in the past 18 months to expand its research and development activities, another strong sign that Apple is looking to diversify its offerings.
The company is seeing major growth in China
Apple also released regional breakdowns, showing how it has performed in various areas around the world. The Americas and Europe unsurprisingly led the way, but suffered from a post-Christmas drop-off in the last quarter.
This was not the case in China, however, which saw a 5% rise to a record $9,289m in revenues, as customers flocked to take advantage of China Mobile’s iPhone launch. This generated several million new customers in the past quarter alone, which should only continue to increase as Apple further establishes its foothold in the country.
Apple is absolutely loaded
Perhaps not too much of a surprise, this one, but Apple really is quite well off, surpassing analyst expectations to record a 4% rise in revenues.
Anyone lucky enough to own Apple shares should count themselves as very privileged indeed. Following the release of the results, Apple shares rose more than 7.5% to hit $524, as the company announced a 7-for-1 stock split program set to make stocks accessible to a wider range of stakeholders, as well as an increase in its buyback program and dividend.
