The New iPhone Helps Apple to Get Another Growth in 2014
What is the most hot selling items in Africa and Middle East trading market? There's no doubt that iPhone and iPad are the super stars.
Since the 1st release of iPhone, Apple has become the historical sales growth in volume.
A year ago, the story line around Apple Inc. was that its formidable growth had petered out and Samsung Electronics Co. was eating its lunch. What a difference a year makes.
Driven by booming sales of its new bigger-screen iPhones, Apple on Monday said its quarterly profit rose 13%, and it predicted record holiday sales in the current three-month period.
Meanwhile, Samsung’s approach of offering smartphones at all sizes and prices in every market is struggling amid a wave of Chinese manufacturers with low-cost offerings.
Apple’s resurgence is driven by the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, which the company introduced in September. The iPhone 6 with a 4.7-inch screen and the iPhone 6 Plus with a 5.5-inch display are in short supply. With its latest phones, Apple is catching up with Samsung and others that have posted strong sales of larger phones. (Graphic: Compare the iPhone 6 with other phones.)
In an interview, Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook said the reception for the new iPhones has been better than expected with combined sales of iPhone 6 and 6 Plus exceeding same-period sales of last year’s iPhone 5S—Apple’s high-end model at the time—in every market where the phones were available. The larger iPhone 6 Plus sells for $100 more than the 5S did last year.
“We knew it would be good, but it’s selling faster than even we thought,” said Mr. Cook. “It’s clear that this is a big one.”
Apple said it sold 39.3 million iPhones in the period ended Sept. 27, a 16% increase from 33.8 million units in the year ago period. Analysts had predicted that Apple would sell 37.8 million iPhones in the period.
Mr. Cook said the company still sees “a significant backlog” for new iPhones. Apple just began selling the new iPhones in China, the world’s biggest smartphone market, on Friday.
“The company is gaining momentum heading into the holiday season,” said Bill Kreher, technology analyst for Edward Jones. He warned, however, that the phone’s success will create “difficult comparisons” in the current fiscal year.
Apple’s results also benefited from record sales of its Macintosh line of personal computers, which are growing even as PC sales shrink. Apple said Mac sales rose 21% by units and 18% by revenue. Meanwhile, research firm IDC said global PC sales fell by 1.7%.
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Apple CEO Tim Cook shows off the new iPhone 6 at an Apple event last month.GETTY IMAGES
The iPhone’s strength is in contrast to sluggish iPad sales. Apple said it sold 12.3 million iPads in the period, down from 13.1 million a year ago, marking the third consecutive quarter in which sales declined, compared with the prior year.
As laptops become lighter and smartphones becomes larger and more capable, tablet computers are feeling the squeeze. Apple refreshed its iPad lineup last week and introduced a thinner, more powerful iPad Air 2 with a Touch ID fingerprint reader.
The iPhone’s strength stands in contrast to the problems gripping Samsung’s smartphone business. Samsung is forecasting a fourth straight quarter of falling operating profit for the period that ended in September.
The Korean electronics conglomerate sold more phones in the third quarter, but margins were weighed down by higher marketing costs and a decline in average selling prices.
Samsung still sells twice as many smartphones as Apple, but Apple generates more profit, according to financial-services firm Canaccord Genuity.
Apple said fiscal fourth quarter net income totaled $8.47 billion, compared with $7.51 billion in the year-ago period. Earnings per share rose more sharply, to $1.42 from a split-adjusted $1.18, because the company’s stock-repurchase program reduced the share count by roughly 400 million shares, or 6%. The buybacks boosted earnings per share by nine cents.
Apple said it bought back $17 billion worth of stock during the September quarter. Earlier this month, activist investor Carl Icahn sent Mr. Cook a letter urging the company to buy back more shares because he considered the company’s stock undervalued. Apple made its share purchases before Mr. Icahn’s letter.
Revenue rose 12% to $42.12 billion from $37.47 billion in the same period a year earlier.