iPad Sales Contribute to Strong Apple Q2 Results
iPad Sales Contribute to Strong Apple Q2 Results by UCStrategies Staff
Apple has recently announced that its second quarter revenue stood at $43.6 billion due to high iPhone and iPad sales.
The fiscal 2013 Q2 announcement came on March 30, where Apple noted a $9.5 billion or $10.09 per diluted share, which is an increase from $39.2 billion in sales and $12.30 per share with the same period last year. Wall Street’s expectations were surpassed; it had predicted that the company would reach $42.3 billion in revenue with $9.97 per share.
It is important to note that the number of iPhones is much higher than was expected by analysts for the quarter. 37.4 million iPhones were sold by the company, and up to 35.1 million iPhones were sold in Q2 of 2012. It had been predicted by some analysts that a year-to-year decline would occur in iPhone sales, particularly as the growth rate has slowed in pace and more competitors are battling with Apple.
The CEO at Apple, Tim Cook, commented on the difficult and competitive landscape, paying specific attention to Samsung and Google. He said: “The smartphone market has always been competitive. They're obviously tough competitors, but we feel we have the best products by far. I feel very good about our competitive position.”
Strong iPad sales have certainly played to Apple’s advantage, and there was a rise of 65 percent from 11.8 million units a year ago, compared to 19.5 million units this quarter. Mac sales, on the other hand, fell to 3.95 million units compared to 4 million units which were sold in Q2 2012.
The iPad Mini and fourth generation iPad were released in November 2012, and Cook stated that Apple was preparing itself for new hardware, software and services for this coming fall and 2014.
Cook said: “We've got a lot more surprises in the works.” In the next quarter, it is expected that Apple’s revenue will hit between $33.5 billion and $35.5 billion.
Additionally, another $55 billion will be added to Apple’s capital return program for shareholders. The program will see a rise in its share repurchase authorization to $60 billion from $10 billion, and this will therefore become the largest single share repurchase authorization in history. Furthermore, Apple expects that the share buyback will be finished at the end of 2015. (CY) Link