Strong customer demand for its latest iPhones, the 6 and 6 Plus, drove Apple past rival Samsung last year. The same demand poured into 2015 as Apple announced good financial results for the second quarter of the financial year thanks again to the venerable iPhone and notable contributions from the Mac division and the App Store.
In an earnings call, Apple CEO Tim Cook acknowledged that tablet sales had stagnated thanks in part to slowing demand as a result of customers seeing no need to purchase them as well as Apple’s new big smartphones, the 5 inch and the 5.5 inch iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus respectively. iPad sales stood at 12.6 million units in Q2 representing a 23% drop over a similar period last year. Compare that to iPhone sales that stood at 61.2 million representing an increase of about 40% over a similar period in 2014. Even as the PC market continues to experience declining sales globally, Apple’s Macs are still in the shopping lists of most people as 4.5 million units were sold in the quarter. 4.1 million units were sold over a similar period last year.
Apple managed to net revenues of $58 billion to rake in $13.6 billion as profit. That’s a 27% rise in profits and a 55% rise in revenues when compared to a similar period last year. The iPhone accounted for $40 billion of those revenues making it Apple’s most valuable commodity in the market at the moment.
Apple expects iPhone sales to remain strong despite the devices being old in a market that is used to having new devices unveiled almost every other day. Even in the wake of strong competition from Samsung’s Galaxy S6, Apple is not worried about the future prospects of its current cash cow. Especially when sales in emerging markets were up by 63% year on year. Apple’s entry into the Chinese market in an official capacity seems to be paying off as iPhone sales in China rose by 71% to net it revenues of $16.8 billion thus making China overtake the United States as the country where Apple sold most iPhones in the world for the first time ever.
Financial results for the next quarter in which analysts expect Apple’s revenue to stand at between $46 and $48 billion will be particularly interesting as we will get to know how Apple’s newest product line since the death of its visionary founder Steve Jobs faired in its first quarter in the market.
