Apple late on Tuesday announced that it generated a record-breaking US$18 billion net profit during its fiscal first quarter 2015, driven by the popularity of its latest iPhones and the continued renaissance at its Mac division.
The U.S. electronics giant shipped 74.5 million iPhones in the three months to 27 December, a substantial increase on the 51 million shipped a year earlier. Mac shipments grew 14% to 5.5 million. iPad volumes continued to fall though, slipping to 21.4 million from 26 million in Q1 2014.
"We’d like to thank our customers for an incredible quarter, which saw demand for Apple products soar to an all-time high," said Apple CEO Tim Cook, in a statement.
The success of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus during the Christmas period helped to propel the company’s revenue 30% to $74.6 billion. Revenue in all of Apple’s operating regions showed growth, particularly in China, where it surged 70% to $16.1 billion, putting it just behind Europe at $17.2 billion. However, it remains some way behind its biggest region, Americas, where it generated revenue of $30.6 billion.
"Our exceptional results produced EPS (earnings per share growth) of 48% over last year, and $33.7 billion in operating cash flow during the quarter, an all-time record," said Luca Maestri, CFO of Apple.
Apple’s net profit of $18 billion set a new record by a public company, exceeding the $15.9 billion generated by ExxonMobil in the second quarter of 2012, according to S&P analyst Howard Silverblatt.
"The execution by our teams to achieve these results was simply phenomenal," said Cook.
For its fiscal second quarter, Apple expects to generate revenue of $52 billion-$55 billion.
