Apple shares tumble despite record Q4

iPhone sales fell 21 per cent

Apple has reported its best ever Q4 sales despite iPhone revenue falling 21 per cent.

Revenue for the quarter ending 26 September was up one per cent to $64.7bn, driven by products lines including iPad and Mac.

Apple said the dip in iPhone sales was partly due to the delayed launch of the iPhone 12 range.

Taking the iPhone range out of the equation Apple's wider business grew 25 per cent year on year.

iPhone sales did however beat expectations.

"Our results for this quarter were ahead of our expectations, driven by stronger-than-expected iPhone and Services performance," Apple CEO Tim Cook said.

"As we anticipated, we launched new iPhone models in October, a few weeks later than last year's mid-September launch. Up to that mid-September point, customer demand for iPhone was very strong, and grew double digits.

"We also set a new all-time record for Mac and Services. Outside of iPhone, each of our product categories saw strong double-digit year-over-year growth, despite supply constraints in several product categories."

Apple said it saw growth in "the vast majority" of the countries it tracks, but did not refer to the UK in the list of 14 companies it listed.

Sales in the iPad and Mac product ranges climbed 46 per cent and 29 per cent respectively.

Apple resisted offering guidance for the current quarter, spooking investors and leading to a six per cent drop in the vendor's share price.

Chief financial officer Luca Maestri however said that Apple expects iPhone sales to grow in the current Q1.

He told the Financial Times that the vendor believes the COVID pandemic has created too much uncertainty to offer a reliable outlook.

"There's lots of uncertainty in the short-term about rising cases in Europe, very high level of cases in the United States," he said.

"We are very confident… we will be growing revenue during the December quarter."