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Who says Apple needs new gadgets to surprise?
The tech titan said yesterday it sold more than 30 million iPhones last quarter, a number that blew away estimates and showed that the company’s flagship device is still on top.
“The strength of the iPhone brand is respectable to ship that many units,” said analyst Colin Gillis of BGC Partners. “It’s really nice to see iPhone sales accelerate.”
Wall Street expected a slight decline for the premium phone, and some forecasts said Apple would sell around 25 million units. Instead the company sold 31.2 million.
Sales were boosted by the low-cost older-generation models, a segment of the smartphone market that Apple needs to command if it is to grow its market share.
Indeed, reflecting Apple’s success in selling its lower-cost iPhone, the average selling price of the line of smartphones last quarter fell 4 percent to $580 — the first time that number was below $600 since 2009.
Reflecting Wall Street’s uneasy recent history with Apple, the company’s shares, down 21.3 percent this year, fell 1.7 percent yesterday before rallying 3.8 percent in after hours — post-earnings call — to $434.12.
Industry watchers expect Apple to take the battle over lower-cost smartphones a step further and produce a dedicated budget line of i-Phones to compete with the likes of the Nokia Lumia 521, a Windows phone that just went on sale for an unsubsidized $120.
Competition there is heating up as Google is about to launch the Moto X phone through its Motorola unit that could retail for $299, according to some estimates.
“There is clearly demand for lower-priced Apple products like the 4 and 4S,” Gillis said. “Why not sell someone a new product that targets that market.”
The question Apple investors need to wrap their heads around is, “how does Apple survive in a market where prices are going to be declining?” he said.
Apple CEO Tim Cook said the company knows how to win in that environment.
“What we’ve seen is the number of first-time smartphone buyers that the iPhone 4 is attracting is very impressive,” CEO Tim Cook said. “We want to attract as many of the buyers as we can.”
While many on Wall Street were expecting iPhone sales in the three months ending June 29 to disappoint, The Post reported last week that strong iPhone sales in the period by Verizon foretold a better-than-expected quarter from the Cupertino, Calif., company.
Apple is expected to release the next iPhones in the fall, and typically sales slow before such a product refresh.
The company said yesterday it was entering a new product cycle, and most people expect budget multi-colored iPhones, a smartwatch and new TV offerings.
On top of beating projections for phone sales, Apple topped earnings and revenue expectations, and gross margins were at the high end of forecasts.
Apple generated $35.3 billion in revenue, earning $7.47 a share — both beating estimates.
Margins were 36.9 percent.
However, sales of the iPad — 14.6 million — missed forecasts and fell from last year’s 17 million.