Apple sells 17 mn iPads, 26 mn iPhones in three months

Apple today announced financial results for its fiscal 2012 third quarter ended 30 June 2012. Even though the company post a quarterly revenue of $35.0 billion and quarterly net profit of $8.8 billion, these massive numbers still fell short of Wall Street Expectations by nearly $2 bn. Apple had posted a revenue of $28.6 billion and net profit of $7.3 billion Q3, 2011.

So how many devices did Apple sell in Q3, 2012? Well from the numbers it looks like the iPad and iPhone are driving majority of the growth for the company. Here’s a look at the numbers:

• 26.0 million iPhones in the quarter, which is 28 percent unit growth as compared to Q3 2011 when Apple sold 20.34 million devices. Even though, this is a significant growth, there’s no doubt that Apple’s next release, the iPhone 5 which is out this October has several eager fans waiting for it. The numbers could be very different once the iPhone 5 is finally out.

• iPad is number two on the list and the tech giant sold nearly 17.0 million iPads during Q3 2012, which was an 84 percent increase from Q3 2011 when it sold just 9.25 million iPads. The iPad’s success story continues and with rumours of an iPad mini doing the rounds, the choice could widen for a lot of consumers. iPad’s phenomenal sale could get a boost now that Samsung’s Galaxy Tablet 7.7 has been banned in Europe. The American leg of the Samsung vs Apple trial is due to begin next Monday and should Apple prove that Samsung did copy the iPad, then the Cupertino-based company would have virtually no rivals in the US or Europe, two of its biggest markets.

• Mac sales have not picked up. Only 4.0 million Macs were sold in Q3 2012, a mere two percent increase from Q3 2011 where Apple sold 3.95 million Macs. Point to remember is that Apple just released the upgraded MacBook pro with Retina Display, so the numbers next quarter could tell a different story. But in the post-PC era, the tablet is the new computer and could explain declining MacBook sales.

• Apple sold 6.8 million iPods, a 10 percent unit decline from the Q3 2011, where it sold 7.54 million devices. There are reports that Apple could launch a new version of the iPod touch.

Source: Apple Q3 results online for 2011 and Apple 2012 Q3 results online.