Apple posts its second-highest Q3 earnings ever

By

Apple raked in the cash last quarter.
Apple raked in the cash last quarter.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Investors found a lot to be happy about in Apple’s latest earnings report, which was released by the company this afternoon. While Apple didn’t shatter any records, the company beat expectations for the quarter with a total of $45.5 billion in revenue.

That’s well ahead of Wall Street’s expectation of $43.5 billion. iPad sales proved one of the biggest surprises of the quarter, with shipments rising 15 percent year-over-year. Apple CEO Tim Cook was definitely happy with the results.

“With revenue up 7 percent year-over-year, we’re happy to report our third consecutive quarter of accelerating growth and an all-time quarterly record for Services revenue,” said Cook in a statement. “We hosted an incredibly successful Worldwide Developers Conference in June, and we’re very excited about the advances in iOS, macOS, watchOS and tvOS coming this fall.”

Apple sold a total of 41 million iPhones, which was up from last year’s total during this quarter. Mac sales only hit 4.3 million but iPad sales ticked up to 11.4 million.

Apple revenue climbs, but not in China

Growth in China appears to have stalled, however. Revenues from the country fell from $8.9 billion during Q3 2016 to $8 billion last quarter.

Revenue for next quarter is expected to come in between $49 billion and $52 billion. That’s up slightly from the $46.9 billion Apple hit in Q4 2016. Apple’s revenue guidance could indicate that new iPhones — including the highly anticipated iPhone 8 (or maybe the iPhone Pro) — will hit stores within the last few days of the quarter.

Newsletters

Daily round-ups or a weekly refresher, straight from Cult of Mac to your inbox.

  • The Weekender

    The week's best Apple news, reviews and how-tos from Cult of Mac, every Saturday morning. Our readers say: "Thank you guys for always posting cool stuff" -- Vaughn Nevins. "Very informative" -- Kenly Xavier.