Apple posts a record $88.3B in Q1

Apple posted its earnings for the first quarter of the fiscal year 2018 (a period from October to December 2017). The company posted a record revenue of $88.3 billion, which was nearly $10 billion or 13 percent up over revenue from Q1, 2017. The International sales accounted for a total of 65 percent of the quarter's revenue earnings.

Apple CEO Tim Cook said, "We're thrilled to report the biggest quarter in Apple's history, with broad-based growth that included the highest revenue ever from a new iPhone lineup." He further added, "iPhone X surpassed our expectations and has been our top-selling iPhone every week since it shipped in November." Apple's cash reserves reached $285.1 billion in the quarter.

Apple sold 77.3 million iPhones in the said period. According to the report, the company has 1.3 billion active installed base of devices globally. That is an increase of 30 percent in just two years.

Apple's service business, which includes businesses like the App Store, Apple Music, Apple Pay and Apple Care, fell short of its ambitious targets for the quarter, despite hitting fresh records in the App Store over the holidays. Service revenues hit $8.5 billion, below the $8.67 billion projection.

"Thanks to great operational and business performance, we achieved all-time record profitability during the quarter, with EPS up 16 percent,” said Luca Maestri, Apple’s CFO. Maestri further added, "Cash flow from operations was very strong at $28.3 billion, and we returned $14.5 billion to investors through our capital return programme." For its fiscal 2018 second quarter, Apple forecasts revenue between $60 billion and $62 billion.