Apple reports biggest quarterly profit in corporate history

Apple’s results were driven by a huge rise in China sales and take-up of its bigger-screened iPhone.

The company sold 74.5m iPhones in the three months till 27 December, outdoing forecasts of 70 million, and saw China revenues climb by 70 per cent.

Revenues rose almost $20bn, from $57.6bn last year to $74.6bn.

The company’s $18bn profit was the biggest quarterly profit of any public company, topping the $15.9bn posted by oil company ExxonMobil in the second quarter of 2012, according to Standard and Poor’s.

Apple’s cash stockpile is now $178bn: enough to buy computing behemoth IBM, or the equivalent to $556 for every American.

China success

The company’s success in the competitive Chinese market has been put down to its partnership with China Mobile – the country’s largest global mobile carrier – and the appeal of the larger screen size of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus.

Apple’s chief executive Tim Cook told analysts the demand for phones was “staggering” – but sales of the iPad have continued to slide, falling 18 per cent in 2014 compared to 2013.

The larger iPhone 6 Plus seemed to give a boost to profits, increasing the money Apple makes per phone from 2 per cent to 39.9 per cent, but may also have dented the appetite for its iPads.

The product is being affected by heavy competition from rival firms and resurgent laptop sales.

China sales reached $16bn in 2014, up 70 per cent from a year earlier, and nearly matching the $17bn brought in from Europe sales last year.

Apple has now become the number one seller of smartphones in China, measured by the number of phones shipped in the fourth quarter, according to research firm Canalys.

Apple’s Chief Financial Officer Luca Maestri told Reuters he does not expect Apple to struggle because of China’s slipping economic growth.

The company said it is due to start shipping its newest product, the Apple Watch, in April.