Apple sales soar on back of China growth: Profits rise despite decline in iPad sales
Apple has reported a 27 per cent increase in revenue to $58bn (£38bn) for the second quarter, boosted by strong demand in China.
Sales in China alone rose 71 per cent to $16.8bn, helping the smartphone giant rake in profits of $13.6bn, up from $10.2bn last year. The firm sold 61.2m iPhones during the period, up 40 per cent and beating expectations.
“We are thrilled by the continued strength of iPhone, Mac and the App Store, which drove our best March quarter results ever,” said Apple’s chief executive Tim Cook.
Apple also raised its quarterly dividend by 11 per cent to 52 cents per share. Together with its share buy-back plan, Apple estimated it would return $200bn to shareholders by 2017.
It sold 4.6m Mac computers, up from 4.1m a year ago. But one downside was a decline in iPad sales. Apple only shifted 12.6m of the tablet devices, down from 16.4m last year. Sales of the Apple Watch, which went on sale last week, were not broken out but the firm already expects demand to continue to exceed supply. Shares rose 1.6 per cent in after-hours trading to $134.52.