iPhone sales exceeded expectations in the quarter ending September 28, hitting 33.8 million as the newest models joined the mix late in September. iPhone sales were up 26% versus the year-ago quarter, but Apple’s gross margin and operating profit were down, suggesting higher component costs and lower average sales prices. iPad sales were basically flat versus a year ago, but Apple (AAPL) said yesterday that it expects its new iPad Air and iPad mini to drive strong holiday sales.
Although the iPad still dominates the tablet market, sales of the bellwether devices are not growing nearly as fast as the overall market. Gartner projects a 53% increase in unit sales of tablets this year, but unit sales of the iPad increased less than 1% year-on-year. iPad revenue declined 13%, as more buyers chose the less expensive iPad mini.
Apple’s revenue rose 4% year-on-year to $37.5 billion, but net profit slid 8.5% to $7.5 billion, or $8.26 per diluted share. International sales accounted for 60% of revenue, reversing a decline from the previous quarter. Apple’s international sales had been above 60% of revenue throughout 2013, but dipped to 57% of revenue in the quarter ending in July.
Nokia sells 8.8 million Lumia phones
Nokia sold almost twice as many mobile phones last quarter as did Apple, but with sales of feature phones declining, the focus is on sales of Nokia’s Windows-based smartphones. The Lumia 520, which is Nokia’s less expensive smartphone, helped boost Lumia sales to 8.8 million units during the most recent quarter. That’s almost four times as many Lumia phones as Nokia sold in the year-ago quarter. In all, Nokia sold 64.6 million phones during the quarter, down 22% from a year ago.
Nokia’s devices and services unit, which the company plans to sell to Microsoft early next year; lost $118 million during the quarter. The company as a whole posted an operating profit of $162 million. Nokia now has full ownership of network equipment vendor NSN, which has returned to profitability after making deep cuts in its workforce.
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