Profit up 33pc: CHINA’S LOVE HELPS APPLE PROFIT SOAR

Apple on Monday reported a sharp rise in its quarterly profit, lifted by robust sales of its iPhones and a jump in revenue from China.

The California tech giant said profit rose 33 per cent from a year ago to $13.6 billion, lifted by sales of 61 million iPhones in the first three months of the year.

Revenue increased 27 pc from the same period a year ago to $58.01 bn, Apple said.

A major contributor was the expansion of iPhone sales in China. Revenue for “greater China” leapt 71 percent to $16.8 billion in the quarter, allowing the region to overtake Europe as Apple’s second-largest market.

“We are thrilled by the continued strength of iPhone, Mac and the App Store, which drove our best March quarter results ever,” said chief executive Tim Cook.

“We’re seeing a higher rate of people switching to iPhone than we’ve experienced in previous cycles, and we’re off to an exciting start to the June quarter with the launch of Apple Watch.”

The results for the second fiscal quarter exclude the new Apple smartwatch, which began deliveries last week in nine countries.

Apple offered no figures for Apple Watch sales, but Cook said during a conference call that the response has been “overwhelmingly positive.”

“It’s been really great to see the reaction of customers since their watches arrived Friday,” he said.

Apple said separately it was adding $50 billion to its share buyback programme and boosting its dividend, in an apparent concession to shareholders fearing the company is stockpiling too much cash.