Apple challenges Wall Street with strong revival in iPhone sales as it soars

Apple released its sales numbers beating out rival Samsung in units sold during the holiday quarter with a strong showing of its new, top of the line iPhone 7 Plus.
Shares of the world’s most valuable listed company were up 2.6 per cent at $124.50 US in after-hours trading on Tuesday.

Apple sold 78.29 million iPhones in the fiscal quarter ended Dec. 31, up from 74.78 million the year before. Analysts on average had expected 77.42 million, according to research firm FactSet StreetAccount.

The company also forecast revenue of between $51.5 billion and $53.5 billion for the current quarter. Analysts, on average, had expected revenue of $53.79 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
While Apple’s revenue from the Greater China region fell 11.6% to $16.23 billion for the quarter, Chief Financial Officer Luca Maestri cast the number as positive.

Apple is heavily dependent on the success of iPhones, which account for more than two-thirds of its total revenue.
Analysts and investors have already set their sights on Apple’s 10th-anniversary iPhone, which is expected to feature better touchscreen technology, wireless charging and a shift to OLED display.
Apple’s service business, which incorporates the App Store, Apple Pay and iCloud, recorded a 18.4% development in income to $7.17 billion, helped by the notoriety of games, including Pokemon Go and Super Mario Run, and expanded income from subscriptions.

The company net pay tumbled to $17.89 billion, or $3.36 per share, in the quarter from $18.36 billion, or $3.28 per share a year prior. Analysts by and large had expected $3.12 per share.
Income rose 3.3% to $78.35 billion in the quarter.

Apple’s shares have increased 14.7% since mid-November, contrasted with the 5.3% ascend in the Dow Jones Industrial Average up to Tuesday’s close.