Apple posts record Q1 results, promises ‘exciting new things’

Just days after its market value briefly went past the $400-billion mark, Apple released its financial results for the first quarter of 2012 revealing record quarterly revenue and profit.

The tech giant posted quarterly revenue of $46.33 billion and record quarterly net profit of $13.06-billion. Highlighting its increasing global dominance, the company reported that international sales accounted for 58% of its revenue in the quarter.

The record profits come on the back of massive sales growth in a number of its iDevices. Apple claims it sold 37.04-million iPhones in the quarter, representing 128% unit growth over the same quarter in 2011. Add in 15.43 million iPads and 5.2 million Macs (both seeing significant growth over the same period in 2011) and it’s easy to see why the Cupertino-based giant is so flush.

In fact, the only range of devices not reflecting this phenomenal growth was the iPod, which saw a 21% decline in sales.

“We’re thrilled with our outstanding results and record-breaking sales of iPhones, iPads and Macs,” said CEO Tim Cook. “Apple’s momentum is incredibly strong, and we have some amazing new products in the pipeline.”

“We are very happy to have generated over $17.5-billion in cash flow from operations during the December quarter,” said Peter Oppenheimer, Apple’s CFO. “Looking ahead to the second fiscal quarter of 2012, which will span 13 weeks, we expect revenue of about $32.5 billion and we expect diluted earnings per share of about $8.50.”

Following the announcement of the results, Cook sent a congratulatory letter to Apple employees in which he promised to “discuss some exciting new things” in a meeting at the company’ at the Town Hall situated on the company’s campus.

Team,

Thanks to everyone’s hard work, we’re off to a great start in 2012. Last week in New York we launched a groundbreaking initiative for education with iBooks textbooks, and today we reported the strongest quarter in Apple’s history. Please join me tomorrow morning at 10 a.m. in Town Hall. We’ll review our record-setting results and discuss some exciting new things going on at Apple. The meeting will be broadcast live to many sites in Cupertino and other Apple locations. Please check Apple Web for details.

Tim