Apple’s shares have gone bananas on recovering iPhone sales
Shares in Apple jumped almost six per cent as the market opened in New York this morning, after stellar earnings revealed record iPhone sales.
Shares were up 5.7 per cent at $128.23 after figures published last night showed it sold 78.3m iPhones.
The figure smashed analysts' expectations of 76m. The Christmas period was seen as crucial for for Apple, whose iPhone sales have begun to slide in recent years.
The news boosted investor confidence after sales of the iPhone dipped in 2016. But the launch of the new iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus clearly piqued consumers' interest – the device now accounts for 69 per cent of Apple's revenues.
Analysts remained cautious, though.
These were good results but they do not herald the return to growth that the shares badly need if they are to see any real upward momentum," warned Richard Windsor, analyst at Edison Investment Research.
"[The rise in iPhone sales] has been primarily driven by Apple taking a good share of users that purchased the Note 7 and were left high and dry by the recall."
Last year Samsung recalled thousands of is Galaxy Note 7 phones after their batteries began exploding in their owners' pockets.
Meanwhile, revenues rose to $78.4bn, up $2.5bn from the year before – although net income fell, from $18.4bn last year to $17.9bn this year.
Yesterday Tim Cook, Apple's chief executive, said: "We're thrilled to report that our holiday quarter results generated Apple's highest quarterly revenue ever, and broke multiple records along the way.
"We sold more iPhones than ever before and set all-time revenue records for iPhone, Services, Mac and Apple Watch."