Apple has released its earnings report for its first fiscal quarter, and the numbers are unbelievably good. The company sold 74.5 million iPhones for the quarter, a 46 percent year-over-year increase that equates to sales of 34,000 iPhones every hour. “Demand for iPhone was staggering,” said Apple CEO Tim Cook. “This volume is hard to comprehend.”
Overall, the company posted revenue of $73.6 billion (a 30 percent year-over-year increase) and net income of $18.0 billion (a 38 percent year-over-year increase). According to S&P Capital IQ, Apple’s income for just this one quarter is more than 435 of the S&P 500 companies each made in total profits for the last five years.
The report contained several other tidbits of interest to mobile development teams:
- Sales of iPads were down 18 percent.
- Apple is doing particularly well in greater China (which includes Taiwan and Hong Kong), where its revenue rose 70 percent.
- The company plans to start shipping Apple Watch in April.