News - Apple Q4 earnings outshine estimates with record Q4 profits

[HEXUS]

The company's revenue surges to $42.1bn thanks to strong iPhone 6 smartphone sales.

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[RobbieRoy]

Also reported were profits of £8.5 billion for the quarter - and Apple's own gross margin expectations for 2015 of 37.5% to 38.5% - i.e. huge, and perhaps verging on exploitative.

[RT-XD]

Wow...people all buy their iphones just because of the name despite known poor quality build and a huge design flaw...

[Jowsey]

Also reported were profits of £8.5 billion for the quarter - and Apple's own gross margin expectations for 2015 of 37.5% to 38.5% - i.e. huge, and perhaps verging on exploitative.

While it's hard not to agree with you Gross margin is Gross Profit / Revenue.

There is a lot of ifs and buts, but predominately that means, only the physical cost of sales is deducted to achieve gross profit. Such as manufacturing costs. Things not accounted for at this point are any admin costs, marketing or distribution costs.

It's still ridiculous. Also, at $8.5 billion net profit for the quarter of off revenue of $42.1 billion gives 20% net profit. Every time you purchasing an Apple product (£540 for the 16gb iPhone 6, £450 without VAT) 20% just falls into Apples lap as pure profit. £90 per phone in this instance. Food for though =/

[pp05]

That is pretty good going.

[Nobull]

It seems they can do no wrong. It's completely perplexing when you see how other companies are struggling.

[ricksavoie]

At Nobull. I'm pretty sure it's pure marketing genius just like Microsoft and Intel have done in the past. Apple has secured the general public by first enslaving the well off yuppies. Then the low class folk want to follow along and yearn to have an iProduct just the the rich boys. 1. Charge a premium for an excellent product 2. Convince the elite it is better than the standard fare. 3. Make the general (poorer) public feel they are being left out. 4. Then hike up the premium further. For the last decade, the average consumer looks at any cheaper priced product as inferior which allows this marketing trend. How do you finance a sales scheme like this... by becoming a patent whore company like Apple.

[keithwalton]

Fourth quarter ? seems they cant count any more either. It says until 27th of september so it's not like they've brought the financial results back from the future

[mrochester]

It seems they can do no wrong. It's completely perplexing when you see how other companies are struggling.

I'd say it's very simple; you just need to make products of the same or higher quality than Apple. TBH, I'm not surprised other companies are struggling looking at the quality of their products and the software they use.

[Bane2087]

Looks like the general public will never truly see Apple for what it is... at this point there's no excuse for ignorance so I would guess they deserve to be fleeced each year. Just a shame all that wasted money can't go towards something worthwhile.

[NortyOne]

Looks like they are inventing bluetooth next year as well as NFC for phones. Im so impressed somebody finally went and made phones bigger too......

I literally asked someone i work with last week out of genuine interest as to why they always drop top cash on the latest iphone. Their response was

"is there really anything else?"

This is why apple do so well. Oh yeh and not being obligated to follow any laws or pay taxes. I know most companies are a little unethical, but apple get top prize for scumbag

[b0redom]

....and another news article descends into Apple bashing....

The cost of a device isn't directly correlated to the BOM. Don't forget there's fairly extensive R&D and software development costs too.

Not everyone who buys Apple gear is convinced that they're made from rainbows and soldered with unicorn tears.

[Tabbykatze]

I'm quite surprised that their earnings were so high, I would have expected at least the icloud incident to dent that just a tiny bit. But apparently it's Google's fault so go figure.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

At Nobull. I'm pretty sure it's pure marketing genius just like Microsoft and Intel have done in the past. Apple has secured the general public by first enslaving the well off yuppies. Then the low class folk want to follow along and yearn to have an iProduct just the the rich boys. 1. Charge a premium for an excellent product 2. Convince the elite it is better than the standard fare. 3. Make the general (poorer) public feel they are being left out. 4. Then hike up the premium further. For the last decade, the average consumer looks at any cheaper priced product as inferior which allows this marketing trend. How do you finance a sales scheme like this... by becoming a patent whore company like Apple.

I agree with what you say and thats from someone who has worked in places where Apple desktops and laptops actually have made some sense(due to the OS and certain software). Apple does make some decent products but just like with some other companies they use the hype machine(which the media at times seems only too happy to tag along with) to sell a "lifestyle" to people.

[AlexKitch]

Wow...people all buy their iphones just because of the name despite known poor quality build and a huge design flaw...

Looks like the general public will never truly see Apple for what it is... at this point there's no excuse for ignorance so I would guess they deserve to be fleeced each year. Just a shame all that wasted money can't go towards something worthwhile.

Grow up, folks.

Who are you to decide what people spend their money on, and how worthwhile that purchase is? I'm by no means an Apple fan (PC all the way), but I use an iPhone because I've found them to be solid, reliable pieces of kit which work well for my own personal needs. In terms of hardware and benchmark scores, yes - I could probably get better value for money, but money simply isn't everything.

If you like your Android phones or Windows Phones or whatever else then, by all means stick to them, because those are great phones too. But please stop throwing mud at people who buy Apple devices just because you've decided that you have some kind of personal vendetta against the Apple brand. I can assure you I'm a perfectly intelligent person who isn't being 'fleeced' for anything - stop worrying your pretty little head.

[shaithis]

Yup, nobody wants a large smartphone.......