In the first quarter that ended December 31, Apple sold 74.5 million iPhones, destroying analysts’ expectations. The increase in iPhone sales drove the total revenue to $74.6 billion, up 30 percent from last year. Tim Cook said the demand for the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus was “staggering” and said the numbers would have been even higher aside from the impact of the strong USD on overseas sales. Net income went up 38 percent to $18 billion. Apple forecast revenue for the current quarter as between $52 billion and $55 billion. In an interview, Apple Chief Financial Officer Luca Maestri said that revenue for the current period will go up between 14 and 20 percent from a year ago, despite the strong dollar. This has caused other companies like Microsoft to lower their forecasts.
Apple has set records with each new version of its iPhones; when the iPhone 5s and 5C models came out, it sold 51 million smartphones during the holiday quarter. Apple shares closed Tuesday at $109.14, down 3.5 percent, but rose more than five percent in after-hours trading on the report.
