FORGET BENDGATE AND Apple’s half-baked operating-system update, because consumers’ love affair with the iPhone is continuing unabated.
But customers have gone cold on the iPad with the company’s head admitting the tech giant had hit a “speed bump” with its tablet sales.
The iPhone has cemented its place as Apple’s main money spinner as it announced record financial results for the past three months.
The release of the new iPhone 6 models helped the company to shift over 39.2 million smartphones during the quarter and take in a total of $42.1 billion (€32.8 billion) for the three months to 27 September.
It posted a net profit of $8.5 billion (€6.6 billion) as sales of its flagship phones more than made up for its rapidly-cooling iPad performance.
Apple offloaded 16% more iPhones than over the same period last year for a sales figure of $23.7 billion (€18.5 billion) – about 56% of its total revenue for the quarter.
All good for now, but is there trouble on the horizon?
The company is expecting an even-more stellar performance in the last three months of the year, when it forecasts its income to land somewhere between $63.5 and $66.5 billion.
But despite the skyrocketing iPhone sales, some analysts have warned Apple has become too dependent on its smartphone business – leaving the company potentially exposed if one of its chief rivals like Samsung came up with a game-changing product.
In contrast to its iPhone performance, Apple sold about 12.3 million iPads over the three months for a total of $5.3 billion (€4.1 billion), down about 16% on the same time last year.
Mac computers were the company’s second-biggest money spinner last month, taking the mantle away from Apple’s once-strong tablet lineup.
Here’s a quick chart to show just how much the iPhone is worth to Apple’s overall business:
Only a ‘speed bump’
Apple CEO Tim Cook gave a nod to the “negative commentary” around the iPad as he delivered the company’s results, but he added that he saw shrinking demand for the product as “a speed bump, not a huge issue”.
“That said, we want to grow, we don’t like negative numbers on these things,” he said.
Apple’s share of the overall tablet market has been shrinking over the past two years as Android-based devices have begun to dominate the segment.
Cook said Apple was heading into the holidays with its strongest product line up ever thanks to its new phones and iPad lineup released last week, and its coming Apple Watch release.
The company also launched its new Apple Pay mobile payment system in the US yesterday.
Good results depsite a rocky September
Apple launched its new iPhone 6 last month, but the product soon attracted controversy after users complained the super-thin phone was bending in their pockets.
The company hosed down the damage from what was dubbed “bendgate” by responding that only nine buyers had complained about the problem.
It suffered another misfire last month with its latest operating system, iOS 8, which has included several bugs that have required updates to repair.
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