By Daisuke Wakabayashi
Apple Inc. reported its second straight quarter of double-digit percentage growth in iPhone sales as it heads into a major refresh of the company's flagship product.
The Cupertino, Calif., company said it sold 35.2 million iPhones in the quarter ended June 28, up 12.7% from the 31.2 million units in the year-ago period. The latest figure was just shy of analysts' projections for sales of 35.9 million iPhones.
In the past few years, the June quarter has been the slowest for Apple as the company gears up with new products ahead of the year-end. The technology giant is banking on an expected new product push of larger iPhones and a series of smartwatches before year-end to reinvigorate earnings that have flattened after more than a decade of remarkable growth, raising concerns that Apple is losing its innovative touch.
Apple said profit in its fiscal third quarter was $7.75 billion, up 12.3% from $6.9 billion in the year-ago period. Apple's earnings per share rose to $1.28 from $1.07, adjusted for the company's recent 7-for-1 stock split and lifted by the company's stock repurchase program, which decreased the pool of total shares compared with a year earlier.
Revenue rose 6% to $37.43 billion from $35.32 billion in the same period a year earlier.
Analysts, on average, estimated that Apple would post earnings of $7.49 billion, or $1.23 per share, on revenue of $37.99 billion, according to Thomson Reuters.
For the current quarter to September, Apple is forecasting a wide revenue range of $37 billion to $40 billion, below analysts' consensus projections of $40.44 billion.
Apple said its gross margin, a closely watched indicator measuring the percentage of revenue that remains after manufacturing costs, was 39.4% in the June quarter--higher than the company's estimated range of 37% to 38%, and above the 36.9% reported in the year-ago period.
For the September quarter, Apple forecast a gross margin of 37% to 38%, in line with the average analyst estimate of 37.5%.
A continued trouble spot for Apple is iPad sales, which fell for the second straight quarter. Apple said it sold 13.28 million iPad units, down 9.2% from 14.6 million units in the same period a year earlier and analysts' forecast of 14.4 million units.
One challenge for tablet computers, in general, is that they aren't quite as portable as smartphones but also aren't as useful as computers when it comes to doing office work.
Sales of Mac computers, meanwhile, rose 17.6% to 4.4 million units from 3.8 million units last year.
By preparing two new larger-screen iPhones for later this year, Apple is looking to revamp its most important product and reverse its steady market share decline against smartphones running on Google Inc.'s Android operating system. The bigger displays address one of the main consumer complaints of the iPhone: The screens are too small. However, it suggests that Apple isn't going to pursue the low-end of the smartphone market, which is growing rapidly in emerging markets.
Apple's smartphone rival, Samsung Electronics Co., has been pressured by competing in the market for inexpensive handsets. When the company reports earnings next week, Samsung is expected to report a third straight year-over-year decline in quarterly operating profit, hurt by price competition and a supply glut of smartphones.
Write to Daisuke Wakabayashi at Daisuke.Wakabayashi@wsj.com
quelle:
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/...iphone-sales-2014-07-22-164853226 |
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