US
technology giant Apple has reported the biggest quarterly profit ever made by a
public company.
Apple reported a
net profit of
$18bn (£11.8bn) in its fiscal first quarter, which tops the $15.9bn made by
ExxonMobil in the second quarter of 2012, according to Standard and Poor's. Continue..
Record
sales of iPhones were behind the surge in profits.
Apple
sold 74.5 million iPhones in the three months to 27 December - well ahead of
most analysts' expectations.
In a
conference call with financial analysts Apple's chief executive Tim Cook said
that demand for phones was "staggering".
However,
sales of the iPad continued to disappoint, falling by 18% in 2014 from a year
earlier.
The
demand for Apple's larger iPhone 6 Plus model appeared to help boost profits
and increase the iPhone's gross profit margin - or how much Apple makes per
phone - by 2% to 39.9%.
However,
Apple did not give a breakdown of sales for the iPhone 6 and other models.
Apple's impressive results
represent a significant shift towards the massive untapped potential of China.
With a
strong line-up of devices entering the final quarter, it was able to reap the
fruits of its deal with the world's biggest mobile network, China Mobile.
However,
the success of its latest big-screen iPhones may have contributed to further
cannibalising sales of the iPad.
The
once unstoppable tablet is being further squeezed both by a resurgence in
laptop sales, as well as by competition - both in an increasingly saturated US
market and in emerging markets by lower-priced, rival machines.
All
eyes now are on the Apple Watch - but with a relatively high base price it is
not clear whether it will be able to woo more than the Apple faithful.
Currency
woes
Apple's revenue grew
to $74.6bn in 2014 - a 30% increase from a year earlier.
However, on a
conference call to discuss earnings, Mr Cook complained of "fierce foreign
exchange volatility", which added Apple to a growing list of US firms who have been
hurt by the strong dollar abroad.
Apple said that
currency fluctuations shaved 4% from its first-quarter revenue.
Sales in greater China
hit $16bn in 2014 - a 70% increase from a year earlier, and almost equalling
the $17bn in sales the company recorded in Europe last year.
A report by research
firm Canalys released on Tuesday said that Apple had overtaken competitors to
become China's number one seller of smartphones by units shipped in the fourth
quarter of 2014.
Apple also said that
its newest product, the Apple Watch, was still on schedule and would begin
shipping in April.
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