Apple’s global revenue continued to climb in its fiscal 2015 second quarter, reaching $58 billion, a 27 percent jump from $45.6 billion in the same period last year, while net profit in this interval rose 33 percent to $13.6 billion from $10.2 billion.
Contributing to that success were the sales of 61.2 million iPhones globally, as well as 12.6 million iPads and 4.6 million Mac computers, along with some $5 billion in sales in the iTunes Store, the App Store and other Apple services, the company announced on April 27 after the close of the U.S. stock market.
“We are thrilled by the continued strength of iPhone, Mac and the App Store, which drove our best March quarter results ever,” Tim Cook, Apple CEO, said in a statement. “We’re seeing a higher rate of people switching to iPhone than we’ve experienced in previous cycles, and we’re off to an exciting start to the June quarter with the launch of Apple Watch.”
Bolstering the second-quarter figures is Apple’s sales in China, where the company posted a new record of $16.8 billion in sales, which is up 4.2 percent from the $16.1 billion in the first quarter. The $16.8 billion in the latest quarter’s sales is a 71 percent jump from the same period one year ago, according to Apple. International sales accounted for 69 percent of the quarter’s overall revenue.
The latest quarterly results came three months after Apple’s best-ever quarter, when the company posted a record $74.6 billion in revenue in the first quarter of fiscal 2015, which ended Dec. 31, 2014. Apple also posted a record $18 billion in profits in the first quarter, which was fueled by a consumer frenzy of sales of its latest iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus smartphones, which debuted in September 2014. The $74.6 billion in revenue in the first quarter was a 30 percent increase from the $57.6 billion in the same quarter in 2014, while the $18 billion in net profit was up 37 percent from the $13.1 billion net profit in the same quarter in 2014.
The second-quarter figures, of course, do not include sales for Apple’s latest product, the Apple Watch, which just went on sale on April 24. Revenue from Apple Watches will begin to show up in the company’s next quarterly report due out in late July. And it appears those sales will bolster the company’s fortunes even more, based on initial demand.
“All around the world, we’ve seen the excitement on social networks as people start to use their Apple Watches,” Cook said during the company’s financial call with analysts. “Reaction has been overwhelmingly positive. We can’t wait to see more of the inspiring apps that developers dream up for the Apple Watch as we head toward the Worldwide Developers Conference 6 weeks from now.”
Based on its second-quarter results, Apple also provided guidance for the third fiscal quarter, in which it expects to bring in $46 billion to $48 billion in revenue. For the second quarter, the company had expected revenue of $52 billion to $55 billion, which it exceeded.