Apple Announces Quarterly Results, Profits Fall and Growth Slows

Apple declared its quarterly report which shows the company’s profit decline for the first time in a decade. CEO Tim Cook was unusually open during Apple’s earnings call about plans for the future.

In the January-March quarter, Apple generated $43.6 billion in revenue with a profit of $9.5 billion, compared to $39.2 billion and $11.6 billion a year ago. Profits might be down by a not-insignificant 18%, but the numbers still beat out quarterly estimates of between $41 and $43 billion in revenue. For next quarter, Apple set the bar low, with an expected $33.5 to $35.5 billion in revenue.

“We are pleased to report record March quarter revenue thanks to continued strong performance of iPhone and iPad,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “Our teams are hard at work on some amazing new hardware, software, and services and we are very excited about the products in our pipeline.”

“Our cash generation remains very strong, with $12.5 billion in cash flow from operations during the quarter and an ending cash balance of $145 billion,” said Peter Oppenheimer, Apple’s CFO.

Here are some interesting numbers from this quarter:

• 37.4 million iPhones sold, up from 35.1 million during Q2 2012
• 19.5 million iPads sold, up from 11.8 million a year ago
• Mac sales were slightly under 4 million compared to 4 million in the year-ago quarter.
• 5.6 million iPods sold (down from 2012’s numbers), but Apple commands 70% of the MP3 player market
• Apple made $5.2 billion from retail stores and expects to open 30 new stores this year
• Apple holds around $145 billion in cash (up from $137 billion in December 2012)