Michal Ždanský Apple announced its quarterly results for the third fiscal quarter of 2014 and once again managed to break several records. The company has once again outdone itself and managed to reach $37,4 billion in revenue last quarter, including $7,7 billion in pre-tax profit, with 59 percent of revenue coming from outside the United States. Apple thus improved by more than two billion in turnover and 800 million in profit compared to last year. Shareholders will also be pleased with the increase in the average margin, which rose by 2,5 percent to 39,4 percent. Traditionally, iPhones led, Macs also recorded interesting sales, on the contrary, the iPad and, like every quarter, also iPods.
As expected, iPhones accounted for the largest share of revenue, at just under 53 percent. Apple sold 35,2 million of them in its most recent fiscal quarter, a 13 percent increase over last year. However, compared to last quarter, the number is down 19 percent, which is understandable given that new iPhones are expected during September. Even so, sales were very strong, unfortunately Apple does not say how many of which models were sold. However, based on the drop in average price, it can be estimated that more iPhone 5cs were sold than after their introduction. However, the iPhone 5s continues to dominate sales.
iPad sales fell for the second time in a row. In the third quarter, Apple sold "just" less than 13,3 million units, 9 percent less than in the same period last year. Tim Cook explained three months ago that the reduced sales are due to the rapid saturation of the market in a short time, unfortunately this trend continues. iPad sales were the lowest in two years this quarter. At the same time, the often accurate analyst Horace Dediu predicted ten percent growth for iPads. Wall Street will probably react most strongly to low sales of tablets.
Better news comes from the personal computer segment, where Mac sales increased again, by a whopping 18 percent to 4,4 million units. Apple can consider this a very good result indeed in a market where PC sales generally decline every quarter, and this trend has prevailed for the second year with no sign of change (currently, PC sales are down two percent quarterly). In personal computers, Apple also has the highest margins, which is why it continues to account for over 50 percent of all profits from this segment. iPods continue to decline, with their sales again drastically reduced by 36 percent to less than three million units sold. They brought less than half a billion in turnover to App's coffers, making up just over one percent of all revenue.
Much more interesting was the contribution of iTunes and software services, including both App Stores, which earned $4,5 billion in revenue, up 12 percent from last year. For the next fiscal quarter, Apple expects revenue between 37 and 40 billion dollars and a margin between 37 and 38 percent. The financial results were prepared for the first time by the new CFO Luca Maestri, who took over the position from the outgoing Peter Oppenheimer. Maestri also stated that Apple currently has over $160 billion in cash.
"We're excited about the upcoming releases of iOS 8 and OS X Yosemite, as well as the new products and services we can't wait to introduce," said Tim Cook, Apple's chief executive.
I am very curious about the new products. Hopefully there will finally be an iMac with retina.
Building resolution not enough for you? Even so, it is one of the highest. If they put in a 27″ retina, they would need a 4K panel. And I don't need to have 2 products from the same segment starting at 100. That panel would drive the price up insanely.
No, not enough. I can see those pixels on the current iMac. I see them on the iPad 2 as well. The prices of 4K displays are falling and someday I will have iMacs with a 4K display. There is always the alternative of a new mac mini and an external display from another manufacturer. Support for 4K displays should arrive with OS X 10.10.