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Apple has reclaimed the throne as the world’s top smartphone seller for the first time in five years, beating rival Samsung in units shipped for the US “holiday” quarter and boosting revenues with a strong showing for its new, top-of-the-range iPhone 7 Plus.
The iPhone sales numbers, and a profit of almost $1bn (£790m), both beat Wall Street expectations, sending its shares up 3 per cent in after-hours trading on Tuesday.
But the gains were tempered by Apple’s cautious outlook for the current quarter, which it mainly attributed to the strong US dollar, which hurts companies like Apple that sell a majority of their products overseas, by forcing them to raise prices, which depresses unit sales, or sacrifice margins.
Apple sold 78.29 million iPhones in the US fiscal first quarter ending 31 December, up from 74.78 million the year before. Analysts on average had expected 77.42 million, according to research firm FactSet StreetAccount.
That beat Samsung’s 77.5 million smartphone sales in the quarter, according to tech data firm Strategy Analytics, the first time that has happened since the fourth quarter of 2011.
The results, which reflected the first full quarter of iPhone 7 sales, come at a time when global demand for smartphones is slowing and cheaper Android alternatives are flooding the market. Apple may also have benefited from Samsung’s much-publicised recall of the fire-prone Galaxy Note 7.
Apple is heavily dependent on the success of iPhones, which account for more than two-thirds of its total revenue.
Analysts and investors have already set their sights on Apple’s 10th-anniversary iPhone, which is expected to feature better touch screen technology, wireless charging and a shift to a higher-resolution OLED display.
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Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook said demand was especially high for the larger iPhone 7 Plus in the US fiscal first quarter.
Revenue in the services business – which includes the company’s App Store, Apple Pay and iCloud – jumped 18.4 per cent to $7.1bn, helped by the popularity of games, including Pokemon Go and Super Mario Run, and increased revenue from subscriptions.
Reuters
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