UPDATED 02:08 EDT / OCTOBER 28 2015

NEWS

Apple books record Q4 profit of $11.1b off the back of the iPhone’s growth in China

Apple continues to ride the wave of the growing middle class in China with the tech giant posting a new record quarterly profit.

Revenue for Apple’s fourth quarter came in at $51.5 billion with a net profit of $11.1 billion, up from revenue of $42.1 billion and a net profit of $8.5 billion for the same quarter in 2014.

Gross margin came in at 39.9 percent up from 38 percent for the same quarter last year, with international sales accounting for 62 percent of the revenue for the period.

Unsurprisingly Apple’s iPhone continued to be the goose that laid the golden egg for the company, with the smartphone accounting for 62 percent of Q4 revenue, up from 56 percent year-on-year; assisting that number was an increase in the price to an average of $670 during the quarter.

In raw numbers, iPhone sales rose 22.36 percent from 39.27 million units in Q4 2014 to 48.05 million units Q4 2015, bringing in $21.77 billion to Apple coffers.

Mac sales continue to grow for Apple, although at a slower rate from a lower base, with 6.88 million bring sold in Q4 compared to 6.63 million for the same quarter in 2014, up 3.77 percent; revenue for Mac’s came in at $6.88 billion for Apple in Q4 accounts for 13.36 percent of revenue.

The only dark spot in the quarterly financials came from Apple’s iPad line, with the company selling only 9.88 million iPads in Q4 2015 compared to 12.32 million in Q4 2014, with sales bringing in $4.28 billion in revenue, or 8.3 percent of the company by revenue.

Apple’s App Store, iTunes, Apple Music, Apple Pay, and the small number of software titles Apple sells (collectively their software and services segment) grew from $4.61 billion to $5.09 billion, and although Apple didn’t break out which service made what Apple Chief Financial Officer Luca Maestri said most of the growth in that number was due to sales in the App Store.

The remaining category Apple refers to as “other products,” covering the Apple Watch,iPod, Beats headphones, Apple TV, AirPort routers, and other accessories, booked $3.05 billion for the quarter, compared to $1.9 billion for the same period in 2014.

“Fiscal 2015 was Apple’s most successful year ever, with revenue growing 28 percent to nearly $234 billion. This continued success is the result of our commitment to making the best, most innovative products on earth, and it’s a testament to the tremendous execution by our teams,” Apple’s Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook said in a statement. “We are heading into the holidays with our strongest product lineup yet, including iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus, Apple Watch with an expanded lineup of cases and bands, the new iPad Pro and the all-new Apple TV which begins shipping this week.”

Guidance

Not content with breaking yet more records, Apple’s market guidance for the first quarter of its fiscal year 2016 (starting September 27 this year) includes:

  • revenue between $75.5 billion and $77.5 billion
  • gross margin between 39 percent and 40 percent
  • operating expenses between $6.3 billion and $6.4 billion
  • other income/(expense) of $400 million
  • tax rate of 26.2 percent

Apple shareholders will be receiving a dividend of $0.52 per share of common stock payable on November 12, 2015.

Image credit: 27244079@N02/Flickr/CC by 2.0

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