Skip to main content

Apple sells 47 million iPhones in record-breaking quarter

apple earnings q4 2017 logo
Image used with permission by copyright holder
Apple, the world’s largest tech company, announced its fourth-quarter fiscal year financial results on November 2. The company’s revenue was up 12 percent, marking the fourth consecutive quarter of accelerating growth. The company saw year-over-year growth in all categories with its strongest quarter ever in the services sector.

Apple’s fourth-quarter revenues posted at $52.6 billion, a 12-percent year-on-year increase. International sales played a key role in this quarter, accounting for 62 percent of the company’s revenue.

Although revenues were up in all sectors this quarter, gross margin was slightly down at 37.9 percent vs 38 percent for the same quarter last year. The company expects higher margins next quarter as the services sector continues to outperform quarter-over-quarter.

Apple sold nearly 47 million iPhones in the quarter, an increase of over 2 million phones when compared with a year ago. Although Apple saw a significant increase in iPhone sales year-on-year, channel inventory for the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus was significantly less than that of the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus.

iPad sales were strong as well with more than 10 million devices sold in the fourth quarter, versus 9.3 million in sales for the same quarter last year. Mac sales saw only a modest increase in sales, rising to 5.4 million from 4.9 million.

The Apple Watch saw a 50-percent increase in growth this quarter. This is the third consecutive quarter of growth for the Apple Watch. The introduction of Apple Watch Series 3 helped sustain growth in this area.

Services, a category that encompasses products like Apple Care and iCloud, saw its strongest growth ever this quarter. Earning more than $8 billion in the quarter, the services sector accounted for 16 percent of Apple’s quarterly revenue.

International sales comprised 62 percent of Apple’s revenue this quarter and the company believes growth in emerging markets will be essential to its continued success.  Apple grew over 30 percent in Mexico, the Middle East, Turkey, and Central and Eastern Europe.

For the full fiscal year, Apple generated more than $229 billion in sales, an increase of more than $14 billion dollars from last year. The company projects revenues of $84-87 billion in the first quarter of fiscal 2018.

Editors' Recommendations

Steven Winkelman
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Steven writes about technology, social practice, and books. At Digital Trends, he focuses primarily on mobile and wearables…
How to change your language in Google Chrome on desktop
Chrome OS

Google Chrome supports a wide range of languages. While it'll default to English in most cases, there's nothing stopping you from changing its settings and displaying pages in Spanish, French, or dozens of other languages.

Changing your default language in Chrome takes only a few seconds, and the technique used is the same across Windows and Mac. Aside from changing your language, note that Chrome now gives you the option to automatically translate pages written in another language – making it easy to read content from around the globe.

Read more
23 of the best Netflix hacks, tips, and tricks
The Netflix home screen.

Netflix is one of the most popular streaming platforms for all things movies and TV shows. Home to an immense library of titles, the Netflix archive is constantly changing and evolving, and so are the many ways you can use your Netflix account. 

For instance, did you know you can access region-locked Netflix shows and flicks by using a VPN? Or that you can disable that pesky Autoplay feature? There are tons of Netflix hacks, tips, and tricks out there, so we’ve gone ahead and rounded up all of our favorites! 
Expand your streaming with a VPN

Read more
How to make a GIF from a YouTube video
woman sitting and using laptop

Sometimes, whether you're chatting with friends or posting on social media, words just aren't enough -- you need a GIF to fully convey your feelings. If there's a moment from a YouTube video that you want to snip into a GIF, the good news is that you don't need complex software to so it. There are now a bunch of ways to make a GIF from a YouTube video right in your browser.

If you want to use desktop software like Photoshop to make a GIF, then you'll need to download the YouTube video first before you can start making a GIF. However, if you don't want to go through that bother then there are several ways you can make a GIF right in your browser, without the need to download anything. That's ideal if you're working with a low-specced laptop or on a phone, as all the processing to make the GIF is done in the cloud rather than on your machine. With these options you can make quick and fun GIFs from YouTube videos in just a few minutes.
Use GIFs.com for great customization
Step 1: Find the YouTube video that you want to turn into a GIF (perhaps a NASA archive?) and copy its URL.

Read more