Apple has enjoyed record sales and profits over the Christmas period, crediting a surge in demand for its iPhone 11.
Apple said sales in the last three months of 2019 rose 8% year-on-year to $91.8bn (£70.5bn), while net profits increased 11% to reach $22.2bn.
International sales accounted for 61 percent of the quarter’s revenue.
“We are thrilled to report Apple’s highest quarterly revenue ever, fueled by strong demand for our iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Pro models, and all-time records for Services and Wearables,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “During the holiday quarter our active installed base of devices grew in each of our geographic segments and has now reached over 1.5 billion. We see this as a powerful testament to the satisfaction, engagement and loyalty of our customers — and a great driver of our growth across the board.”
“Our very strong business performance drove an all-time net income record of $22.2 billion and generated operating cash flow of $30.5 billion,” said Luca Maestri, Apple’s CFO. “We also returned nearly $25 billion to shareholders during the quarter, including $20 billion in share repurchases and $3.5 billion in dividends and equivalents, as we maintain our target of reaching a net cash neutral position over time.”
Apple is providing the following guidance for its fiscal 2020 second quarter:
- revenue between $63.0 billion and $67.0 billion
- gross margin between 38.0 percent and 39.0 percent
- operating expenses between $9.6 billion and $9.7 billion
- other income/(expense) of $250 million
- tax rate of approximately 16.5 percent
eMarketer principal analyst Yoram Wurmser, commented on the earnings: “This was a strong quarter for Apple, primarily driven by strong sales of the iPhone 11 lineup,” said eMarketer principal analyst Yoram Wurmser. “One note of caution in an otherwise strong report was that Services (which included Apple TV+) grew slightly below expectations. This miss could be attributed to the competition from Disney +, which launched at roughly the same time.”
Apple stats from eMarketer
US iPhone and iPad market share
- Apple’s share of smartphone users in the US was expected to remain basically static by the end of 2019, accounting for a 45.2% share. Android, by comparison, would account for 53.4% of US smartphone usage. eMarketer expects Android to dominate smartphone usage through 2021.
- The number of US iPad users remains stagnant — 79.7 million this year. In 2019, Apple’s share of the tablet market was expected to be 45.6%, down from 46.3% in 2018.
- In 2019, eMarketer estimates that nearly 53% of Americans will use a tablet at least once a month, totaling 174.7 million people.
UK iPhone and iPad market share
- In the UK, Apple was on track to account for nearly 42% of smartphone users this year, a slight increase from 40.5% in 2018. eMarketer estimates Android has accounted for 55.7% of UK smartphone users this year, slightly higher than 2018 at 55.3%.
- eMarketer was expecting there to be 19.0 million iPad users in the UK in 2019, accounting for 50.9% of UK tablet users.
- In 2019, eMarketer estimated that 37.3 million people in the UK will use a tablet at least once per month, nearly 56% of the population.
US ecommerce share
- In 2019, Apple was on track to earn $22.56 billion in US ecommerce sales, which is 13.2% higher than in 2018. This revenue represented 3.8% of total ecommerce sales in the US.
Source: eMarketer
