Apple Reports Q4 2012 Earnings: $8.2 Billion In Net Profit, 26.9M iPhones Sold

With Microsoft trotting out Windows 8, Apple is trotting out some huge, huge numbers in a bid to steal back some of that spotlight. The company's Q4 2012 earnings report just came out, and while some of the figures missed Wall Street's debatable inflated expectations, it's hard to argue with what it has going on. It managed to record revenue of $36.0 billion and quarterly net profit of $8.2 billion, or $8.67 per diluted share. These results compare to revenue of $28.3 billion and net profit of $6.6 billion, or $7.05 per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter. Gross margin was 40.0 percent compared to 40.3 percent in the year-ago quarter, while international sales accounted for 60 percent of the quarter’s revenue.

But here's what's really impressive, as if making $8.2 billion in three months wasn't mind-blowing enough: it sold 26.9 million iPhones. Recall that the iPhone 5 had only 9 days of sales in this quarter, so despite the fact that people knew the iPhone 4S was the outgoing model, millions were purchased. One can only imagine how many iPhone 5 units will be sold in the upcoming holiday quarter. Apple sold 14.0 million iPads during the quarter, a 26 percent unit increase over the year-ago quarter, and it also sold 4.9 million Macs during the quarter, a 1 percent unit increase over the year-ago quarter. It sold 5.3 million iPods, a 19 percent unit decline from the year-ago quarter, but that's not surprising -- iPod sales have been in decline for years as the iPad and iPhone eat up those potential sales.


The company now has over $121 billion in the bank. No matter how you slice it, or who you ally with, there's no denying that Apple is firing on all cylinders when it comes to taking in cash.
Tags:  Apple, iPod, earnings, ipad