Apple's third quarter beats expectations as iPhone sales hit 31.2 million

HARDWARE DESIGNER Apple announced its fiscal third quarter 2013 earnings on Tuesday, with numbers surpassing Wall Street expectations.

The third quarter is traditionally a quiet one for Apple, and with no major launches within the last three months, 2013 was expected to be more of the same. However, Apple reported Q3 earnings that beat analyst expectations on Tuesday, thanks to record sales of its iPhone device.

In terms of numbers, Apple's revenues were up to $35.3bn from $35bn in the year ago quarter, although profits were down from $8.8bn to $6.9bn.

These figures came in higher than Wall Street expectations, and that could be credited to record quarterly sales of the iPhone. Apple said it sold 31.2bn iPhones during the three month period up from 26 million in the year ago quarter, despite talk that the handset might struggle due to increased competition in the smartphone market.?Apple didn't give a breakdown of its iPhone sales, but said during its earnings call that the iPhone 5 was "by far" the most frequently activated device.?

While the iPhone didn't suffer, it looks like the iPad may have been hit by the growing number of Android tablets. Apple sold 14.6 million iPads during the third quarter, down from 17 million in Q3, but said during its earnings call that the device still accounts for more than 85 percent of US tablet traffic. Mac sales were also down from 4 million to 3.8 million, and Apple reported a 32 percent decrease in year-on-year iPod sales.

Apple CEO Tim Cook remained optimistic, saying in a statement, "We are especially proud of our record June quarter iPhone sales of over 31 million and the strong growth in revenue from iTunes, Software and Services,.

We are really excited about the upcoming releases of iOS 7 and OS X Mavericks, and we are laser-focused and working hard on some amazing new products that we will introduce in the fall and across 2014.?

Apple said it expects fourth quarter 2013 revenues to come in between $34bn and $37bn.??

Source: http://feeds.theinquirer.net/c/554/f/7127/s/2f11c203/sc/21/l/0L0Stheinquirer0Bnet0Cinquirer0Cnews0C22843230Capples0Ethird0Equarter0Ebeats0Eexpectations0Eas0Eiphone0Esales0Ehit0E3120Emillion/story01.htm

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