Apple Q1 results iPhone sales hit 77 4 million with iPhone X as best seller
Apple Q1 results iPhone sales hit 77.4 million with iPhone X as best-seller.
Apple Inc quelled investor concern with results showing solid demand for its flagship iPhone X and a pledge to put its cash hoard to work in buybacks, dividends and acquisitions. The shares rose about 3 percent in extended trading.
The average selling price for the iPhone, Apple’s most important gadget, was $796 in the crucial holiday quarter. That was up from less than $700 a year earlier and it suggests that people are gravitating toward the iPhone X, which starts at a lofty $999. The metric reassured investors who were initially spooked when Apple forecast lower-than-expected revenue in the current quarter and missed analysts’ estimates for the number of iPhones sold during the holidays.
“iPhone units were below expectations, though much higher ASP helped offset the unit softness,” Amit Daryanani, an analyst at RBC Capital Markets, wrote in a note to investors. For the final quarter of 2017, Apple sold 77.3 million iPhones, down 1 percent from a year earlier and below analysts’ projections of 80.2 million units. Apple said revenue in the three months ending in March will be $60 billion to $62 billion, also missing analysts’ expectations.
Apple Chief Financial Officer Luca Maestri gave rare additional guidance, telling analysts on a conference call that iPhone sales would grow by at least 10 percent year-over-year in the current quarter. Average selling prices will fall, but services and wearable device revenue growth will be strong in the period, he added.