Apple's earnings slowing for iPads and Macs, iPhone is still tops

Apple sold 31.2 million iPhones in the past quarter, blowing past expectations and maintaining its leadership position for smartphones in a number of markets. The Company posted quarterly revenue of $35.3 billion and quarterly net profit of $6.9 billion, or $7.47 per diluted share. These results compare to revenue of $35 billion and net profit of $8.8 billion, or $9.32 per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter.

What was most impressive about this earnings call is that they sold 31.2 million iPhones, a record for the June quarter, compared to 26 million in the year-ago quarter. Apple also sold 14.6 million iPads during the quarter, compared to 17 million in the year-ago quarter. They sold 3.8 million Macs, compared to 4 million in the year-ago quarter. With the entire PC industry reeling from poor sales, it isn't surprsing that fewer Macs were sold in the quarter. What is surprising, is the dip in iPad sales, specially considering that they are selling more models this year with the iPad mini, than they were a year ago.

“We are especially proud of our record June quarter iPhone sales of over 31 million and the strong growth in revenue from iTunes, Software and Services,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. Cook added that the iPhone 5 is the most popular and profiitable iPhone yet but what's remarkable is that it is still doing well by selling the iPhone 4 and the iPhone 4S which  represent the past two hardware generations of the product.

Various analysts have been predicting a low-cost iPhone, one that can compete in emerging markets and square off against the low-cost Android devices as well as feature phones. Low-cost but feature diluted versions of Apple products have never been done, but Apple is known for lowering prices of previouos generation iPhones which share some newer features of recent models via software. 

No other handset maker seems to be enjoying sales of older models for such a prolonged period of time.

Another indicator of the iPhone's success is the adoption in enterprise and government. Apple hasn't released any new mobile devices in 2013 but has earmarked the Fall for new product and product category releases.

“We are really excited about the upcoming releases of iOS 7 and OS X Mavericks, and we are laser-focused and working hard on some amazing new products that we will introduce in the fall and across 2014," Cook said during the earnings call.