Coinciding with Microsoft's Q4 earnings were Apple's Q3 results, which were quite impressive, indeed. Not only have iPhone revenues increased significantly but the company has also seen impressive growth in other products and key markets, netting Apple an impressive $49.6 billion in revenue and almost $11 billion in profits this quarter.
A large portion of that revenue came from iPhone sales, with a growth of 59% compared to last year resulting in almost 50 million phones sold. One of the main contributors to this growth was the fact that Apple has seen significant growth in Chinese (the market has already exceeded iPhone sales in the US, making China the biggest contributor to iPhone revenue in the world) and Indian sales. Both of these are rapidly expanding markets that all tech firms are looking to penetrate and Apple seems to have succeeded in doing so.
Revenue from Mac also increased by 8.8% year on year. While the increasingly saturated tablet market cost Apple a 17.9% decrease in iPad sales compared to this time last year, earnings from the iOS App Store that serves as the focus of Apple's ecosystem on both iPads and iPhones doubled compared to Q2. All of these have allowed the company's cash reserves to balloon to an unprecedented $200 billion.
Rumours had earlier started circulating that sales of the Apple Watch had shrunk by as much as 90% in recent weeks. However, CEO Tim Cook went on the record saying that sales had actually been picking up recently, despite the Watch's slower start. Cook also said that the Watch was exceeding their sales estimates, and that it was on track to mirror the original iPhone's success.
Unfortunately the company did not reveal individual figures for the Apple Watch, instead lumping sales of the wearable with revenue from the iPod, Apple TV and Beats. This makes it much harder to estimate sales figures but CFO Luca Maestri seemingly confirmed that revenues were "well above" $952 million, hinting that the Watch is now a billion dollar business - not as high as some might want but no slouch either.
Apple seems to be poised for even more growth in the coming year, with sales of the iPhone 6S expected to break previous records and a rumoured 13" inch iPad Pro set to take on Microsoft's Surface line - and hopefully reignite public interest in the company tablet offerings.
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