The Wall Street Journal reports that Apple sold 33.8 million iPhones in the September quarter, up 26% from a year earlier but not enough to prevent a third consecutive quarterly decline in earnings.
The Cupertino, Calif., tech giant reported net income for the fourth fiscal quarter ended Sept. 28 of $7.51 billion, or $8.26 a share, down from $8.22 billion, or $8.67 a share, a year earlier. Revenue was $37.47 billion, compared with $35.97 billion last year.
The Cupertino, Calif., tech giant reported net income for the fourth fiscal quarter ended Sept. 28 of $7.51 billion, or $8.26 a share, down from $8.22 billion, or $8.67 a share, a year earlier. Revenue was $37.47 billion, compared with $35.97 billion last year.
The company's shares slid 3.8% to $512 in after-hours trading.
Analysts on average had expected Apple to report a profit of $7.96 a share on revenue of $36.9 billion, according to surveys by Thomson Reuters.
Analysts had expected Apple to sell about 34.5 million iPhones. Apple released two new iPhones, the 5S and 5C, near the end of the quarter.
The company sold 14.1 million iPads, compared with analyst expectations of about 15 million devices. Apple sold 14.6 million iPads in its third quarter.
Apple projected revenue for its first fiscal quarter, which includes the holiday shopping season, of $55 billion to $58 billion, compared with average analyst expectations of $55.7 billion. The company also said it expects gross margin of 36.5% to 37.5%, under the 37.8% analysts were expecting.
The company's results, and more importantly its guidance, give the clearest indications yet of the health of its business. Apple has been strategically expanding its product lines over the past couple of years, offering multiple versions of the iPhone and iPad.
The iPad Mini, a smaller cousin to the standard-sized iPad, has become the world's biggest-selling tablet, but theiPhone 5C, a lower-end companion to the iPhone 5S, doesn't appear to have become as popular. Earlier this month, The Wall Street Journal reported Apple had reduced orders to assemblers for its iPhone 5C, while increasing orders for the 5S. The 5C is plentiful at many retailers while the 5S is often hard to find.
