Apple Shatters Quarterly Profit Records

The big news out of yesterday’s Apple earnings call was confirmation that the Apple Watch would hit stores starting in April. But while that’s one of the more exciting tidbits for tech fans, the fact that Apple managed to break world records for quarterly profits shouldn’t be overlooked. Because that’s what they did: Apple earned so much money last quarter, the company actually broke a world record.

Specifically, TechCrunch reports that Apple’s profits came in at $18.04 billion, which is more than $2 billion more than the previous record holder, which was the Russia-based Gazprom, the world’s largest extractor of natural gas. Once again, Apple earned more money selling smartphones and computers than an actual energy company, which provides energy that people need to live.

A post on CNET says that the huge profit increase had a lot to do with selling 74.5 million iPhone units last quarter, which is when the company released the new iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, and saw huge sales for the winter holiday season.

Many believe that the iPhone 6 line sold so well because of its major defining feature: its big screen. It’s also possible, however, that many users decided jump in to the iPhone pool because of the impending release of the Apple Watch. While many analysts believe that the Apple Watch’s initial sales will be somewhat muted, I tend to think they might be selling the device’s potential short. The Apple Watch has been in development for a long, long time, and it seems likely that it’ll hit bigger than most tech watchers are expecting. The fact that it will only work with a compatible iPhone means that if you want one, you ought to have the newest and best iPhone possible – hence the huge iPhone 6 sales.

Maybe I’m coloring the results with my own analysis of the demand. I know for sure that I started lusting after the iPhone a bit more when I saw how gorgeous the Apple Watch was going to be. We’ll know for sure if I’m right this April, won’t we?

[Sources: TechCrunch, CNET]