iPhone Sales Brighten Apple's Q3 Earnings

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Cupertino, Calif.-based Apple is riding high on sales of its iPhone smartphone, but a slowdown in the company’s other business units portend some challenges ahead.

Apple announced fiscal 2013 third quarter earnings on July 23. Revenues for the period, which ended on June 29, 2013, hit $35.3 billion, a modest 1 percent increase over the $35 billion in revenue the company booked during the same quarter a year ago. The company also reported a net profit of $6.9 billion, or $7.47 per share.

The company narrowly beat analyst expectations, particularly on the sales front. Analyst estimates pegged revenues at $35.01 billion and earnings at $7.32 a share.

Apple has the iPhone to thank.

The device maker revealed that it had sold a staggering 31.2 million iPhones during the quarter, both a 20 percent increase over the 26 million units that the company moved during the same year-ago period and a new record. “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,” said Apple CEO Tim Cook in company remarks.

Apple’s smartphone has proven exceptionally resilient, given Samsung’s assault on the mobile market. The South Korean electronics maker’s Android-powered Galaxy S4 handset emerged as the company’s fastest selling device ever since its late-April launch. In July, the industry was abuzz with reports that Samsung shipped its 20 millionth Galaxy S4.

During a conference call, Apple chief financial officer Peter Oppenheimer indicated that his company’s smartphone has maintained its momentum in practically all types of markets. “iPhone sales were ahead of our expectations and we were particularly pleased with very strong year-over-year growth in iPhone sales in a number of both developed and emerging markets, including the U.S., UK, Japan, Brazil, Russia, India, Thailand and Singapore,” he said.

And old iPhones apparently die hard. “iPhone 5 remains by far the most popular iPhone but we were also happy with sales of iPhone 4 and 4s,” added Oppenheimer.

The picture is somewhat less bright for the iPad.

During the last quarter, the company managed to sell 14.6 million iPads. Last year, that figure stood at 17 million. “The tough year-over-year comparison was driven by both the significant channel inventory increase and the first full quarter of the availability of the third generation iPad in the year ago quarter,” stated Oppenheimer.

The Mac division also experienced a sales decline. The company sold 3.8 million units versus the 4 million in the year-ago period.

Cook signaled that his company is preparing to unveil new offerings to boost the company’s financials across the board. “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,” he said in a statement.

Pedro Hernandez is a contributing editor at Datamation and InternetNews.com. Follow him on Twitter @ecoINSITE.