Apple's share price tumbles with vendor no longer revealing iPhone, iPad and Mac unit sales

Vendor reports best ever Q4 as sales hit $62.9bn

Apple saw its valuation drop below $1tn after revealing that it will no longer disclose the number of iPhone, iPad and Mac units it sells.

The share price drop came despite Apple reporting year-on-year revenue growth of 20 per cent for the three months ending 29 September, up to $62.9bn (£48.3bn).

Operating income rose 22.9 per cent to $16.1bn.

The market, however, responded unfavourably after Apple said it will no longer reveal unit sales for some of its top lines.

The vendor's share price tumbled nearly six per cent when the NASDAQ market opened today.

On a conference call, transcribed by Seeking Alpha, CEO Tim Cook said that unit sales are no longer a fair reflection of how the vendor is performing.

"As we have stated many times, our objective is to make great products and services that enrich people's lives, and to provide an unparalleled customer experience so that our users are highly satisfied, loyal and engaged," he said.

"As demonstrated by our financial performance in recent years, the number of units sold in any 90-day period is not necessarily representative of the underlying strength of our business.

"Furthermore, a unit of sale is less relevant for us today than it was in the past, given the breadth of our portfolio and the wider sales price dispersion within any given product line."

One analyst on the earnings call questioned whether Apple had changed its reporting to hide any potential negative growth in unit sales moving forward, by instead focusing on revenue derived from more expensive devices - a notion rejected by Cook.

Cook highlighted that none of Apple's competitors reveal the number of units it sells.

Apple also boasted of seeing its best ever quarter for services, hitting revenue of $10bn.

The three-month period also saw Apple report its best ever revenues for iPhones, wearables and Macs.

The vendor expects sales to be between $89m and $93m in fiscal 2019, which reportedly underwhelmed analysts and contributed to the share price drop.