US-based technology giant Apple has revealed its iPhone sales during the first quarter of 2017.
Apple shipped 78.29 million iPhones, 13.08 million iPads and 5.37 million Mac computers in Q1 of fiscal 2017 — generating revenue of $78.35 billion (+3 percent). Apple’s revenue in Q4 2016 was just $46.85 billion and $75.87 billion in Q1 2016.
“We sold more iPhones than ever before and set all-time revenue records for iPhone, Services, Mac and Apple Watch,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “Revenue from Services grew strongly over last year, led by record customer activity on the App Store.”
Apple said its revenue will be between $51.5 billion and $53.5 billion with gross margin of between 38 percent and 39 percent in its fiscal 2017 second quarter.
Apple overtakes Samsung in Q4
Apple has overtaken Samsung to become the lead smartphone vendor in Q4 2016. But Samsung has maintained its top position in the full year of 2016 despite the battery issue.
Research agency Canalys said Apple managed to grow its volumes by 5 percent, shipping 78 million iPhones in the quarter to move past Samsung. Samsung, which was the only vendor in the top five to see a shipment decline, settled for second place after shipping around 77 million units.
“Samsung’s problems with the Note7 contributed to its market share falling below 20 percent in Q4, its lowest point since Q2 2011,” said Ben Stanton, Canalys Analyst. “This played into the hands of Apple, which saw seasonal shipments of the iPhone 7 reach 78 million units, taking it into first place, a position it has not held since Q4 2014 and the launch of the iPhone 6.”
Strategy Analytics said Apple shipped 78.3 million smartphones worldwide and captured 18 percent marketshare in Q4 2016, rising a steady 5 percent annually from 74.8 million units in Q4 2015.
“This was the iPhone’s best performance for over a year, as Apple capitalized on Samsung’s recent missteps,” said Neil Mawston, executive director at Strategy Analytics.
Samsung shipped 77.5 million smartphones in Q4 2016, dipping 5 percent annually from 81.3 million units in Q4 2015.
Samsung lost momentum in the quarter as a result of its Note 7 battery fiasco. Samsung captured 18 percent share for the quarter and 21 percent share for the full year, its lowest level since 2011.
Research firm TBR, in an analysis report on Apple earnings, said that after three consecutive quarters of revenue declines and posting its first annual revenue decline since 2001 for its fiscal year 2016, demand for iPhone 7 and new MacBooks pushed Apple’s overall, iPhone and Mac PC revenues to new heights.
“Despite ongoing challenges in China’s consumer market and stronger competition globally in the premium segment, especially from Google, Huawei and Samsung, demand for the iPhone 7 Plus helped Apple post record iPhone revenue, unit shipments and average selling price (ASP),” said Jack Narcotta, senior analyst at TBR.
Apple iPhone revenue grew 5.3 percent from a year ago to $54.4 billion, iPhone units shipments rose 4.7 percent to 78.3 million, and iPhone ASP inched up $4 to $695.
Apple in India
Apple sold 5.4 million Macs and generated its highest-ever quarterly Mac revenue globally. Apple said Mac achieved double-digit unit growth in several countries, including Japan, Mainland China, India, the Netherlands, and Sweden, as well as in the U.S. education market.
Apple sold 13.1 million units of iPad globally. Apple said iPad posted double-digit growth in both Mainland China and India, as it expanded distribution channels in those countries and attracted a very high percentage of first-time tablet buyers.
Apple CEO Timothy Donald Cook said: “Despite the demonetization move in India that created lots of economic pressure there last quarter, despite that, we had all-time record revenue results, and so we were very happy about that. The demonetization impact has not worked its way through yet.”
Apple is currently in discussions on a number of things, including retail stores, and intends to invest significantly in India.
