Apple results break new records, but iPad sales keep slowing

Apple sold more than 61 million iPhones in the second quarter of this year, posting quarterly revenue of $58 billion and net profit of $13.6 billion in the process (up from revenue of $45.6 billion and net profit of $10.2 billion during the same period last year). Massive growth in China is in part to thanks, along with Mac sales, which also broke records, and which exceeded iPad sales for the first time.

Why are fewer iPads being sold? First people tend to upgrade their tablet computers less often than their handsets, and larger handsets like the iPhone 6 Plus have seen some people forgoing tablets all together. You can bet Apple would like to be selling iPads at the rate it was two years ago, but record iPhone sales, and the knock-on effect the growing number of people using iPhones is having on both Mac and App Store sales, we imagine Apple won’t be too hard on itself about the iPad’s poor performance.

For the first time, iPhone sales in China exceeded those in the US, a trend that’s likely to continue for the rest of the year as Apple expands its Chinese presence. Though iPhone sales were a record for the second quarter (up 40%, in fact, from the same time last year), the previous quarter sales were even stronger. That record-breaking holiday quarter saw Apple outsell even Samsung at the top end of the smartphone market, but they could be tough to maintain if Samsung Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge perform as well as the reviews suggest they ought to.

Even if Samsung does eventually sell more S6 and S6 Edge handsets than Apple sells iPhones, Apple will still be delighted to see how much of its revenue is coming from outside the US – 69% for the reported quarter, which includes a 71% increase in China alone compared to last year.

Of course, these latest figures don’t include any figures for the Apple Watch, which will no doubt boost Apple’s bottom line substantially in the third quarter. Not only does it represent the first new product category since the iPad, but CEO Tim Cook says demand for the device has consistently exceeded supply since pre-orders opened. Some analysts suggest as many as 1 million Apple Watches were purchased the day orders opened, which is a quarter of a million more than the total number of Android Wear devices shipped in 2014.

Apple’s position at the top of the US share market looks pretty secure… until the next big thing, of course.