Business

Apple was right, people love expensive iPhones

Apple's gamble that offering more expensive iPhones would result in increased revenue without having to increase sales continues to pay off.

Written by Adrian Kingsley-Hughes, Senior Contributing Editor Nov. 1, 2018 at 2:11 p.m. PT

Apple's Q4 18 results are out, and the iPhone, services, and "other products" categories all show double-digit percentage growth compared to the year-ago quarter.

Must read: iOS 12.1: Tips and tricks to help you get the most from your iPhone or iPad

Let's start with the iPhone. Unit sales of 46.8 million fall pretty in line with analyst expectations, but while units are up year-on-year has flatlined at zero percent, revenue over the same period is up a whopping 29 percent.

This has driven up the Average Selling Price to $793, up on the previous quarter ASP of $724, up significantly on the year-ago quarter ASP figure of $618.

Moving to the iPad, and while unit sales decreased by 6 percent to 9.7 million year-on-year, revenue dropped a precipitous 15 percent. This bumped the ASP up slightly to $422, from $410 for the previous quarter, but down significantly on the figure of $468 the year-ago quarter.

People are buying cheaper iPads, quite possibly because the more expensive iPad Pros were all over a year old for the duration of the quarter.

It seems that Mac sales have once again risen from the grave, hitting 5.3 million, following a couple of weak quarters. ASP is at $1,389, down from $1,433 for the previous quarter, and up slightly from the ASP of $1,331 for the year-ago quarter.

Apple's revenue from "Other Products," which include AirPods, Apple TV, Apple Watch, Beats products, HomePod, iPod touch and other Apple-branded and third-party accessories, hit $4.23 billion, up 13 percent from the $3.74 billion from the previous quarter, and up a robust 31 percent from the year-ago quarter figure of $3.23 billion.