Apple CEO Tim Cook
Apple has just reported Q3 revenues of US$35.3bn, flat compared to US$35bn a year ago. CEO Tim Cook said the company is “laser focused” on new products as profits were down to US$6.9bn compared to US$8.8bn last year.
In a quarter where gross margin was 36.9pc compared with 42.8pc in the year-ago quarter, Apple sold 31.2m iPhones, up from 26m last year.
The tech giant also sold 14.6m iPads during the quarter, compared to 17m last year.
Apple sold 3.8m Macs, compared to 4m in Q3 last year. Interestingly, the company did not reveal numbers for sales of iPod devices.
“We are especially proud of our record June quarter iPhone sales of over 31m and the strong growth in revenue from iTunes, Software and Services,” Cook stated.
“We are really excited about the upcoming releases of iOS 7 and OS X Mavericks, and we are laser focused and working hard on some amazing new products that we will introduce in the fall and across 2014.”
Looking ahead to the fourth quarter, Apple predicted revenues of between US$34bn and US$37bn, gross margin of between 36pc and 37pc, and operating expenses between US$3.9bn and US$3.95bn plus other expenses in the region of US$200m. The company says it will pay a tax rate of 26.5pc in the fourth quarter.
“We generated US$7.8bn in cash flow from operations during the quarter and are pleased to have returned US$18.8bn in cash to shareholders through dividends and share repurchases,” said Peter Oppenheimer, Apple’s CFO.
