Yesterday, Apple released the results for its 2016 fiscal first quarter (which ran from September 27, 2015 to December 26, 2015, and did not actually include any days from calendar year 2016) and held a call with analysts to discuss the results. This is typically Apple's best quarter of the year because of holiday sales. It was actually Apple's best quarter ever, with revenue of $75.9 billion (compared to $74.6 billion one year ago and $57.6 billion two years ago) and record quarterly net profit of $18.4 billion (compared to $18 billion this time last year and $31.1 billion two years ago). Apple also set a new record for iPhone sales.
If you want to get all of the nitty gritty details, you can download the audio from the announcement conference call from iTunes, or you can read a rough transcript of the call prepared by Seeking Alpha, or Serenity Caldwell and Jason Snell prepared an almost verbatim transcript of the call that is posted on iMore. Apple's official press release is here. As always, however, I'm not as concerned about the financial details as I am the statements of Apple executives during the call that are of interest to iPhone and iPad users. Here are the items that stood out to me:
iPhone
- During the past quarter, Apple sold 74.779 million iPhones, the most that Apple has ever sold in a fiscal quarter. It just barely beat the previous record, which was set this time last year when Apple sold 74.5 million iPhones. Remember that it wasn't that long ago (fiscal 2011) that Apple sold 72.21 million iPhones in a full year, and now the company is selling more than that in a single quarter, for two years in a row.
- By my count, as of December 26, 2015, Apple had sold over 896 million iPhones since they first went on sale in 2007. It looks like at some point in 2016, Apple will sell its 1 billionth iPhone. Apple said yesterday that it now has an active user base of 1 billion devices, which is the total number of iPhone, iPad, Mac, iPod touch, Apple TV, and Apple Watch devices that have been engaged with Apple's services within the past 90 days.
- Regarding the record number of iPhones sold last quarter, Apple CEO Tim Cook said yesterday: "To put that volume into perspective, it's an average of over 34,000 iPhones an hour, 24 hours a day, seven days a week for 13 straight weeks. It's almost 50 percent more than our Q1 volume just two years ago, and more than four times our volume five years ago."
- Cook talked about the number of iPhone buyers who were switching from Android, and said that he was "blown away by the level of Android switchers that we had last quarter. It was the highest ever by far, and so we see that as a huge opportunity."
- According to a recent customer survey survey by a third party (451 Research), there is a 99% customer satisfaction rate for the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus.
- Apple CFO Luca Maestri said that there is a strong demand for iPhone among business users. "Among corporate buyers planning to purchase smartphones in the March quarter, 451 Research found that 79% planned to purchase iPhones. That is the highest iPhone purchase intent in the eight year history of the survey."
iPad
- iPad sales have not been increasing like the iPhone. In the past quarter. Apple sold just over 16 million iPads, compared to just over 21 million this time last year. I thought that demand for the new iPad Pro might result in more iPad sales this quarter, although I know that they were in limited supply.
- By my count, as of December 26, 2015, Apple had sold 308 million iPads since they first went on sale in 2010.
- Masestri said yesterday: "Recent data from NPD indicates that iPad has 85% share of the U.S. market of tablets priced above $200. And the latest data published by IDC indicates that iPad accounts for 67% of the U.S. commercial tablet market, comprising enterprise, government, and education."
- Here is a chart showing iPhone and iPad sales to date, by fiscal quarter. The two highest columns in the chart illustrate that Apple sold approximately the same number of iPhones in this past quarter and in the year-ago quarter, but saw fewer iPad sales in this past quarter.
Etc.
- Although it was a record quarter for Apple, Cook said that it would have been better but for the challenging economic conditions in many major markets including Brazil, Russia, Canada, Southeast Asia, Australia, Turkey and Europe. Two-thirds of Apple's revenue comes from outside of the United States, so Apple feels a hit when times are tight around the world.
- Apple predicted that this upcoming quarter (the one that we are in now) will see less revenue than normal. In part, this is because of the economic conditions in other countries.
- Cook said that there are now over 3,600 apps for the Apple TV.
- The Apple Watch is now being sold at almost 12,000 locations in 48 countries. Apple didn't release specific numbers, but did say that it sold a record number of Apple Watches last quarter.
- Of course, Apple wasn't going to announce any new products yesterday, but Cook did say that Apple is "continuing to invest without pause" in R&D and that Apple has "some great things in the pipeline."