Apple last quarter sold more than 3 million Macs, 10 million iPods, and 7 million iPhones, resulting to what is considered to be the company’s most profitable fiscal quarter, earning $9.87 billion in revenue and a net profit of $1.67 billion.
Revenues were up 24% and profits rose 46% when compared to last year’s fourth quarter earnings. Fiscal 2009 fourth quarters, which ended September 26, saw sales of 3.05 million Macs, representing a 17% increase year-over-year. Apple also sold 10.2 million iPods and 7.4 millions iPhones during the fourth quarter.
International sales accounted for almost half of last quarter’s revenue at 46%, with the Asia Pacific region seeing a 42% increase in shipments and a revenue growth of 39%. 291,000 Mac sales helped generate $7.81 million in revenue in this region.
Macs
Though Mac sales was up 17% year-over-year, there was a decline in revenue from Mac desktops with Apple selling 16% less than 2008′s fourth quarter. Only 787,000 desktops were sold resulting in $1.086 billion in revenue.
However, sales of MacBooks and MacBook Pros saw an upsurge with Mac portables representing a whooping 74% of Mac sales numbers. 2,266,000 Macs were sold, a 35% growth compared to the same quarter last year, resulting to $2.866 billion in revenue (27% increase year-over-year).
Half of Macs sold in retail stores were to customers new to the platform and Snow Leopard sold at a rate twice that of Leopard in a given five-week period.
iPhone
7,367,000 iPhones were sold, generating $2.297 billion in revenue. This represents 7% increase in unit sales but a 185% increase in revenue as compared to last year’s quarter. China will start selling the iPhone on October 30, and more carriers are expected in the U.K. and Canada.
iPod
iPod sales were almost the same when compared to Q309 with 10.177 million iPods sold resulting in $1.563 billion in revenue. However, the figures represent a 8% decline in sales and 6% decline in revenue year-over-year.
iPod touch sales rose 100% when compared to the same quarter last year. iTunes Music Store is in 23 countries with 11 million songs in its catalog.
Things to come
Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer hinted of possibly price drops for some of Apple’s products. In the Q&A following the fourth quarter 2009 earnings call, Oppenheimer was asked about the lower than expected future guidance for the company. “We expect gross margin to decline 34% primarily due to four factors,” he said.
The first factor were the “new products we have and will announce” which will deliver “greater value, lower gross margin than predecessors.”
The statement had some speculating that new, lower-priced iMacs, Macbooks, and perhaps Mac minis, are going to be released soon, some saying even tomorrow.
The other three factors include: higher mix of iPods and fewer Snow Leopard sales in the next quarter; increased air freight cost; and more expensive components.
[via AppleInsider and Apple]
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