Apple sells 47 million iPhones in record-breaking quarter

By Steven Winkelman November 3, 2017

Image used with permission by copyright holder

Apple, the world’s largest tech company, announced its fourth-quarter fiscal year financial results on November 2. The company’s revenue was up 12 percent, marking the fourth consecutive quarter of accelerating growth. The company saw year-over-year growth in all categories with its strongest quarter ever in the services sector.

Apple’s fourth-quarter revenues posted at $52.6 billion, a 12-percent year-on-year increase. International sales played a key role in this quarter, accounting for 62 percent of the company’s revenue.

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Although revenues were up in all sectors this quarter, gross margin was slightly down at 37.9 percent vs 38 percent for the same quarter last year. The company expects higher margins next quarter as the services sector continues to outperform quarter-over-quarter.

Apple sold nearly 47 million iPhones in the quarter, an increase of over 2 million phones when compared with a year ago. Although Apple saw a significant increase in iPhone sales year-on-year, channel inventory for the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus was significantly less than that of the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus.

iPad sales were strong as well with more than 10 million devices sold in the fourth quarter, versus 9.3 million in sales for the same quarter last year. Mac sales saw only a modest increase in sales, rising to 5.4 million from 4.9 million.

The Apple Watch saw a 50-percent increase in growth this quarter. This is the third consecutive quarter of growth for the Apple Watch. The introduction of Apple Watch Series 3 helped sustain growth in this area.

Services, a category that encompasses products like Apple Care and iCloud, saw its strongest growth ever this quarter. Earning more than $8 billion in the quarter, the services sector accounted for 16 percent of Apple’s quarterly revenue.

International sales comprised 62 percent of Apple’s revenue this quarter and the company believes growth in emerging markets will be essential to its continued success. Apple grew over 30 percent in Mexico, the Middle East, Turkey, and Central and Eastern Europe.

For the full fiscal year, Apple generated more than $229 billion in sales, an increase of more than $14 billion dollars from last year. The company projects revenues of $84-87 billion in the first quarter of fiscal 2018.

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Steven Winkelman

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Steven writes about technology, social practice, and books. At Digital Trends, he focuses primarily on mobile and wearables…

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