Apple sees profits soar as iPhone X sales defy expectations
- Wednesday, May 2nd, 2018
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Apple achieved its best-ever quarter for the three months to March, posting a revenue of $61.1bn – a 16 per cent year-on-year (YoY) increase – for the second quarter of its fiscal year 2018. The increase in revenue also led to a 25 per cent leap in profits to $13.8bn.
The impressive quarter was powered by strong iPhone sales, which grew 12 per cent to achieve $100bn in revenue across the entire fiscal first half. In turn, it was the pricy iPhone X that really played its part. The 10-year anniversary iPhone edition sold more than any other iPhone for each week in Q2 FY2018, as it did in the three months prior.
“Since we split the line with the launch of iPhone 6 and 6 Plus in 2014, this is the first cycle in which the top of the line iPhone model has also been the most popular,” said Apple CEO Tim Cook during an earnings call.
The tech behemoth also enjoyed its best-ever quarter for services, with revenue topping $9bn, up by over $2bn YoY. Individually, the App Store, Apple Music, iCloud, and Apple Play all achieved record revenues. In addition, Apple’s paid subscriptions across these services crossed the 270m mark in the quarter, an increase of 100m over the previous year.
On top of that, Apple’s wearable business – which boasts products like the Apple Watch, Beats, and AirPods – is now the size of a Fortune 300 company, as revealed by Cook.
“We’re thrilled to report our best March quarter ever, with strong revenue growth in iPhone, Services and Wearables,” said Cook. “Customers chose iPhone X more than any other iPhone each week in the March quarter, just as they did following its launch in the December quarter. We also grew revenue in all of our geographic segments, with over 20 per cent growth in Greater China and Japan.”