Strong iPhone sales push Apple to an $11bn profit on $51.5bn revenues

27 Oct 2015

Apple sold more than 48m iPhones during its fourth quarter in 2015

Sales of more than 48m iPhone devices, including the new iPhone 6s, have propelled Apple to reporting a profit of $11.1bn from total revenues of $51.5bn in the fourth quarter.

This was up from a profit of $8.5bn on revenues of $42.1bn a year ago.

The company said growth was fuelled primarily by strong sales of iPhone devices, expanded availability of Apple Watch and all-time records for Mac sales and revenues from services like Apple Music.

Apple sold 48.04m iPhone devices in Q4, up from 39.2m a year ago. iPad sales fell to 9.8m from 12.3m last year.

Mac sales were 5.7m, up from 5.5m units a year ago. Services, including iTunes, Apple Music and Apple Pay were up 10pc to $5bn. Other products, including Apple Watch, were up 61pc to $3.04bn.

‘We are heading into the holidays with our strongest product line-up yet’
– TIM COOK

“Fiscal 2015 was Apple’s most successful year ever, with revenue growing 28pc to nearly $234bn,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO.

“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

“We are heading into the holidays with our strongest product line-up yet, including iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus, Apple Watch with an expanded line-up of cases and bands, the new iPad Pro and the all-new Apple TV which begins shipping this week.”

Looking ahead to the fiscal 2016 first quarter, the Californian tech giant predicts revenues of between $75.5bn and $77.5bn.

Out of all this revenue the company expects operating expenses of between just $6.3bn and $6.4bn.

“Apple’s record September quarter results drove earnings per share growth of 38pc and operating cash flow of $13.5bn,” said Luca Maestri, Apple’s CFO.

“We returned $17bn to our investors during the quarter through share repurchases and dividends, and we have now completed over $143bn of our $200bn capital return programme.”

John Kennedy is a journalist who served as editor of Silicon Republic for 17 years

editorial@siliconrepublic.com