Thanks, in part, to strong demand for its digital services, Apple just reported better-than-expected fiscal third-quarter earnings.
For the quarter ended June 29, the tech giant reported quarterly revenue of $53.8 billion, which was up 1% year-over-year.
“This was our biggest June quarter ever … driven by all-time record revenue from services, accelerating growth from wearables, strong performance from iPad and Mac and significant improvement in iPhone trends,” said Apple CEO Tim Cook.
“These results are promising across all our geographic segments, and we’re confident about what’s ahead,” Cook added.
In response to Apple’s earnings, analysts struggled to wrap their heads around the idea the company’s growth is no longer being driven by the iPhone.
“Apple’s wearable, home, and accessory category is larger than iPad sales," Citi analysts pointed out in a note to investors.
All in all, the shift seems to be a good thing, Citi analysts suggested. “This underscores a new theme that is starting to emerge from Apple, which we believe investors are overlooking, and that is the diversity of Apple's offerings,” they said.
During the period, international sales accounted for 59% of all revenue.
Looking ahead to its fiscal fourth quarter, Apple is expecting revenue in the range of $61 billion to $64 billion.
Analysts appear to be pleased with these projections.“The highlight of this release and focus of investors in our opinion will be the robust September guidance for total revenue of between $61 billion and $64 billion vs. the Street’s $60.9 billion estimate,” Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives suggested in a client note.