Apple has just announced its financial results for its fiscal 2018 second quarter, beating expectations. It recorded its best March quarter ever, posting a quarterly revenue of USD61.1 billion, an increase of 16 percent from the year-ago quarter.
International sales accounted for 65 percent of the quarter’s revenue, with Greater China and Japan recording over 20 percent growth.
Earnings per share is up 30 percent, and the company generated over USD15 billion in operating cash flow. Apple’s earning per share (EPS) have beaten Wall Street expectations 20 out of the past 21 quarters.
iPhone sales were slightly higher compared to the year-ago quarter: 52.2 million units against 50.76 million, a 3 percent improvement. Compared to the hot Q1 2018 however, unit sales is actually down by 32 percent.
Apple CEO Tim Cook revealed that iPhone X continues to be the phone of choice amongst customers, consistently the top seller each week in the March quarter.
Apple’s approach to its smartphone line-up differs from previous years’. It now has three flagship devices instead of the traditional two. The oddball iPhone X, the 10th anniversary iPhone, continues to be popular, despite being the priciest model in its line-up.
The company’s Services category which includes iCloud, Apple Care, Apple Pay, Apple Music, iTunes, App Store and licensing, returned some USD9.19 billion in sales. This soundly beat forecasts and represents a 31 percent revenue growth from the year-ago quarter.
iPad sales increased by 2 percent, while Mac sales took a slight dip by 3 percent, compared to the year-ago quarter. Apple sold 9.1 million iPads and pushed 4.08 million Macs to consumers in the March quarter.
Apple’s mysterious “Other products” category delivered a revenue of USD 3.9 million, again beating forecasts. The category includes its latest smart speaker, the HomePod, Apple Watch and AirPods. Sales of Apple Watch and AirPods are up almost 50 percent, and while Apple doesn’t break down the exact figure of individual items in the category, the wearables and home products account for 90 percent of growth.
The Cupertino tech giant has also announced a USD100 billion share repurchase program, as well as a 16 percent increase in its quarterly dividend.
The folks in Wall Street should be pretty happy.
