San Francisco Feb 2 (IANS) Despite a fall in iPhone sales Apple has posted a record revenue of $88.3 billion -- a 13 per cent increase from a year ago -- for the holiday season quarter that ended on December 30 -- pocketing $20.1 billion in profits.
Apple sold 77.3 million iPhones in the holiday quarter -- roughly one million units less than what the company had sold in the same period a year ago.
According to the company it now has a 1.3 billion active installed base of devices globally.
"We re thrilled to report the biggest quarter in Apple s history with broad-based growth that included the highest revenue ever from a new iPhone lineup " Apple CEO Tim Cook said in a statement late on Thursday.
"iPhone X surpassed our expectations and has been our top-selling iPhone every week since it shipped in November " Cook added allaying reports that iPhone X has not done well since its launch.
Apple s earnings per share rose 16 per cent to $3.89 which is also a record. International sales accounted for 65 per cent of the quarter s revenue.
Apple s cash reserves reached $285.1 billion in the quarter.
"Thanks to great operational and business performance we achieved all-time record profitability during the quarter with EPS up 16 per cent " said Luca Maestri Apple s CFO.
"Cash flow from operations was very strong at $28.3 billion and we returned $14.5 billion to investors through our capital return programme " Maestri added.
Apple s revenue continues to come from iCloud Apple Music iTunes and the App Store -- with an increase of 18 percent (year over year).
For its fiscal 2018 second quarter Apple forecasts revenue between $60 billion and $62 billion.
"We ve also achieved a significant milestone with our active installed base of devices reaching 1.3 billion in January. That s an increase of 30 per cent in just two years " Cook said.
Apple sold a record 22.39 million smartphones in the US in the holiday season last year increasing its market share from 37 per cent to 44 per cent a report said on January 31.
Since its launch on November 3 with nearly eight million units sold iPhone X outsold iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus by a 2:1 margin in the US.
According to Counterpoint Research s "Market Pulse programme 51.2 million smartphones were sold during the holiday season quarter of 2017.
"Apple shipped a record 22 million iPhones for the first time ever in a quarter in the US which is an impressive feat because the Q4 promotional season was not nearly as aggressive as previous years " Research Director Jeff Fieldhack said in a statement.
--IANS
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