Apple has recorded record revenue but dire profit margins for its performance during 2012's fourth quarter.
The company sold 47.8 million iPhones during the quarter, an increase from the 37 million it sold during the fourth quarter of 2011. Comparatively, it sold 26.9 million iPhones during the third quarter of 2012. Revenue increased by 18 percent to $54.5 billion, but net profit remained unchanged from a year: the Cupertino firm generated $13.1 billion.
Apple shares dropped in after-hours trading, which has been attributed to the unimpressive sales of the iPhone even after the launch of the iPhone 5. It was previously expected to sell upwards of 50 million units. Following the earnings report, the firm's shares dropped by 10 percent.
Apple sold 22.9 million iPad units, a jump from the 15.4 million it sold during the same time period in 2011 and 14 million from the previous quarter. It sold around 1.7 million iPad units per week, an increase when compared to the 1.1 million sold per week the previous year. Although it didn't reveal specific sales figures pertaining to the iPad Mini, it stressed that it's been a "tremendous hit."
Mac sales decreased from 5.2 million in the fourth quarter of 2011 to 4.1 million during 2012's Q4. Apple said the drop is due to supply constraints with the new iMacs. Sales of the iPod, meanwhile, dropped from 15.4 million in 2011 to 12.7 million during Q4, 2012.
"We're thrilled with record revenue of over $54bn and sales of over 75 million iOS devices in a single quarter," said Apple CEO Tim Cook. "We're very confident in our product pipeline as we continue to focus on innovation and making the best products in the world."
“We’re pleased to have generated over $23 billion in cash flow from operations during the quarter,” said Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer. "We established new all-time quarterly records for iPhone and iPad sales, significantly broadened our ecosystem, and generated Apple’s highest quarterly revenue ever.”
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Zak Islam is a freelance writer focusing on security, networking, and general computing. His work also appears at Digital Trends and Tom's Guide.
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warezme So? Why does every big company expect their profits to keep growing? What is wrong with sustaining a healthy margin especially if a past trend exceeded normal growth. It's ridiculous that big business expects growth and profit and a bail out if it doesn't happen. If you don't make a profit maybe you need to change your business and if you are so big that you need a bailout, you need to be broken up because you're a monopoly.Reply -
stevo777 I think the products that Steve Jobs had a hand in guiding have all been released and anything going forward will be Cook's handywork. It remains to be seen if there will be any real innovation left, but I have my doubts. They have so much money it would take a long time for them to really go under; however, I wouldn't be surprised to see them start losing a lot of market share as most of the cashflow is coming from a rapidly changing handheld environment.Reply -
How are apple not making a tonne of profit with the prices they charge, they charge their products at 3x their worthReply
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calmstateofmind wozza365How are apple not making a tonne of profit with the prices they charge, they charge their products at 3x their worthReply
Did you not just read the article that you're posting on? iPhone sales are down, iPod sales are down, and Mac sales are down. They can price their products at 100x manufacturing cost, but if consumers don't buy amounts equal or close to what they project, they lose money. -
g00fysmiley JacekRingWho buys iPods anymore??? Don't you have a smartphone?Reply
depends, i hae a samsung galaxy nexus and between programs and media i have very little space left as it does not have expandable memory. I have a patriot gauntlet node with a 1tb hdd btu that requires more power and onyl lasts about 5 hours on a charge, i love my old 160 gig ipod classic for a music player, holds my 120 gigs of music and good battery life means i can leave it in the car or take it on a run without worrying about the batterry dying and my being without a phone -
Schmalgar So they 'only' made 13.1 billion in profit last year, and they 'only' made 13.1 billion this year? That right there is what's wrong with the stock driven business model. The thinking that if you don't make more profit this year than you did last year, that something is 'wrong'. There is NOTHING wrong with making 13.1 BILLION DOLLARS profit year after year. Seriously big OMG here.Reply -
headscratcher SchmalgarSo they 'only' made 13.1 billion in profit last year, and they 'only' made 13.1 billion this year? That right there is what's wrong with the stock driven business model. The thinking that if you don't make more profit this year than you did last year, that something is 'wrong'. There is NOTHING wrong with making 13.1 BILLION DOLLARS profit year after year. Seriously big OMG here.Tell me, assuming you have a retirement portfolio, would you rather the stocks and funds within it stay flat or grow? Stocks that are mature and flat, generally have to start forking over large dividends (see Caterpillar) to maintain stock price. Nothing wrong with that stock market model.Reply
IMO, there is a lot wrong with a company that focuses too much on its stock price - makes me think of dot com bubble - but it must maintain a reasonable level. -
the1kingbob warezmeSo? Why does every big company expect their profits to keep growing?Reply
I think the problem here is not that their profits didn't keep growing. I think the problem is that they brought in more money and did more business, but that didn't transfer to making more money. So in the eyes of investors, they are not doing as good business as before. -
Now people see that apple can't grow forever and has to come down some day to a more reasonable stock price that reflects the market.Reply