Will this be enough to fend off the Apple skeptics? The company topped Wall Street’s earnings expectations this afternoon with rising iPhone and iPad sales, and announced plans to return $100 billion to shareholders by the end of 2015 through share buybacks and dividends.
The company reported revenue of $43.6 billlion, and earnings of $10.09 per share, topping the consensus of analysts polled in advance by Thomson Reuters.
Sales of iPhones reached 37.4 million units, up from 35.1 million in the same quarter last year. Unit sales of iPads were 19.5 million, up from 11.8 million in the year-ago quarter. Mac sales were down slightly, to less than 4 million units — reflecting the overall slump in the personal computer market.
“We are pleased to report record March quarter revenue thanks to continued strong performance of iPhone and iPad,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO, in the company’s earnings release. “Our teams are hard at work on some amazing new hardware, software, and services and we are very excited about the products in our pipeline.”
Apple’s cash balance stands at $145 billion. The company’s earnings conference call is underway here.
