Apple returns to growth as iPad sales boost Q3 2017 earnings

Apple’s sales amounted to $45.41 billion USD in the third fiscal quarter of 2017, an increase of 7.2 percent, with a net of $8.72 billion, coming to a total increase of 11.9 percent over the same period last year. Overall, these numbers are Apple’s best growth in seven quarters and the tech giant’s second consecutive quarterly increase coming off an approximately year-long downturn.

In terms of specific numbers, iPhone sales are up 3.3 percent to $24.85 billion, amounting to 41.03 million or an increase of 1.5 percent.

“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 Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO, in a statement sent to MobileSyrup. “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.”

iPad sales on the other hand are up 1.9 percent to $4.97 billion or 14.85 percent to 11.4 million units sold. This marks the first time Apple has experienced an increase in iPad sales in 14 quarters, likely due to the release of the well-received 10.5-inch iPad Pro, as well as the 9.7-inch iPad.

“We reported unit and revenue growth in all our product categories in the June quarter, driving 17 percent growth in earnings per share,” said Luca Maestri, Apple’s CFO in a statement. “We also returned $11.7 billion to investors during the quarter, bringing cumulative capital returns under our program to almost $223 billion.”

Also, despite the controversy surrounding the new USB-C MacBook Pro, Mac sales are up 6.7 percent to 5.59 billion, with Mac unit sales up 0.94 percent to 4.3 million.

Apple predicts that its Q4 2017 revenue will fall between between $49 billion and $52 billion, indicating that the recent rumours surrounding possible iPhone production delays likely aren’t accurate.

Source: Apple