Apple sales down in Q3, but services driving up profits

US tech giant Apple’s revenue was down by 1% for Q3, but growth in services drove a net profit bump YoY.

Revenue for Q3 came in at $81.8 billion, down 1% YoY, but net profit rose 2.3% to $19.8 billion, and quarterly earnings per diluted share were $1.26, up 5%.

Revenue from services drove the profit bump it seems, rising by 8% to $21.2 billion, though hardware sales were a drag factor with iPhone sales dropping by 2.4% YoY, iPads by 19.8% and Macs by 7.3%.

In terms of region, net sales were down in the Americas by 5.5% YoY, up in Europe by 4.7%, up in Greater China by 7.9%, and down in Japan by 11.4%.

“We are happy to report that we had an all-time revenue record in Services during the June quarter, driven by over 1 billion paid subscriptions, and we saw continued strength in emerging markets thanks to robust sales of iPhone,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “From education to the environment, we are continuing to advance our values, while championing innovation that enriches the lives of our customers and leaves the world better than we found it.

Luca Maestri, Apple’s CFO added: “Our June quarter year-over-year business performance improved from the March quarter, and our installed base of active devices reached an all-time high in every geographic segment. During the quarter, we generated very strong operating cash flow of $26 billion, returned over $24 billion to our shareholders, and continued to invest in our long-term growth plans.”

Apple’s board of directors has declared a cash dividend of $0.24 per share of common stock.

It terms of a hardware slump Apple is certainly tracking with wider trends – Canalys estimates global smartphone  shipments fell by 11% year-on-year in the three months to the end of June, the sixth quarter in a row in which growth has been negative.

Meanwhile US chip firm Qualcomm has been impacted by this protracted slump – yesterday it announced sales totalled $8.45 billion during the three months to 25 June, down 23% on last year, and warned of impending job cuts.

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