Apple's results fail to excite

Apple's profit and margins slid in its September quarter after weaker than expected iPhone sales.

The consumer tech giant sold 33.8 million iPhones in the last three months — a 26 percent increase on the previous corresponding period, but lower than the 34.5 million units that analysts had expected Apple to ship after introducing two new models.

It also sold 14.1 million iPads — again less than the analyst expectations of 15 million units sold —according to Thomson Reuters, but slightly up from Q4 2012's 14 million.

Mac sales fell from 4.9 million to 4.6 million units.

Apple reported net income of US$7.51 billion, a drop on the fourth fiscal quarter of 2012 when net income came to US$8.2 billion.

Revenue came in at $US37.4 billion for the third quarter, compared to US$35.9 billion revenue in the corresponding quarter last year. Apple's expected revenue was US$36.9 billion, Thomson Reuters said.

Gross margin also fell, at 37 percent compared to 40 percent in the year-ago quarter, in line with analyst predictions of 36.9 percent.

The company's shares fell around 2 percent following the results announcement to $US519.10.

Apple said it expects revenue of US$55 billion to US$58 billion for the Christmas period and its first quarter of fiscal 2014. Wall Street has forecast revenue of US$55.5 billion.

With Reuters