Apple breaks records with £46bn profit
APPLE last night revealed annual profits of nearly £46bn as it prepared to push a blockbuster line-up of products for Christmas.
The US tech giant raked in sales of £204bn over the 12 months to the end of September, defying Wall Street predictions.
The haul included £48bn in the last three months as it sold 47m iPhones.
But shares fell more than 6pc in after-hours trading in new York as investors expressed disappointment that the figures were not better.
Even though Apple sold fewer handsets than expected, its sales were lifted by a higher average selling price per phone – around £610 each. Apple now predicts it could hit sales of more than £71bn in the final three months of 2018.
it is pinning its hopes on new versions of its iPad tablet, Macbook Air laptop, Apple Watch and iPhone, which have all been given upgrades and bigger price tags.
Tim Cook, Apple’s chief executive, said: ‘We’re thrilled to report another recordbreaking quarter that caps a tremendous fiscal 2018.
‘Over the past two months, we’ve delivered huge advancements for our customers, and we enter the holiday season with our strongest line-up of products and services ever.’
Apple has turned to price increases as the number of iPhones it sells continues to slow. For example, the average selling price of an iPhone climbed to around £557 in June compared to £ 466 a year previously.
The rise was partly thanks to the £1,000 price tag of the iPhone X launched last year. it is expected to continue with even more expensive models, costing up to £1,449.
There had been concerns that the iPhone X would cause sales to plummet as consumers baulked at the price tag.
The company has also turned to paid-for services to boost revenues, including iCloud digital storage, Apple Music and its App Store.
it emerged yesterday that Apple had held talks about taking a stake in American radio company iheartMedia.
The early discussions could see Apple make an investment worth millions of dollars, according to the Financial Times. Based in Texas, iheartMedia owns more than 850 radio stations across the US.