Apple Record Q4 Figures: $51.5 Billion in Revenue, 30% of iPhone buyers were Android switchers!

Apple on Tuesday posted its [fiscal] fourth quarter earnings for 2015, offering a look at its performance over the past 3 months. The company shattered most of its sales figures from the same year-ago quarter, but came in under Wall Street expectations in the most important category: iPhone sales.

Analysts were expecting Apple to sell 48.5 million smartphones during Q4, but it fell a bit short at 48.05 million. And although market watchers anticipated lower-than-last-year iPad numbers, the firm came in under tablet sales projections as well. Keep reading for a full breakdown of the numbers.

Q4 2015 numbers compared to figures from the same quarter in 2014.

• Revenue: $51.5 billion versus $42.12 billion
• iPhones: 48.05 million versus 39.3 million
• iPads: 9.88 million versus 12.3 million
• Macs: 5.71 million versus 5.5 million

And here are some comments on the earnings from Tim Cook and Luca Maestri, Apple’s CFO:

“Fiscal 2015 was Apple’s most successful year ever, with revenue growing 28% to nearly $234 billion. This continued success is the result of our commitment to making the best, most innovative products on earth, and it’s a testament to the tremendous execution by our teams,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “We are heading into the holidays with our strongest product lineup yet, including iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus, Apple Watch with an expanded lineup of cases and bands, the new iPad Pro and the all-new Apple TV which begins shipping this week.”

“Apple’s record September quarter results drove earnings per share growth of 38% and operating cash flow of $13.5 billion,” said Luca Maestri, Apple’s CFO. “We returned $17 billion to our investors during the quarter through share repurchases and dividends, and we have now completed over $143 billion of our $200 billion capital return program.”

Although Apple may not have impressed Wall Street in Q4, it put up some staggering numbers, and once again set itself up for a monster holiday quarter. With two new iPhones, Macs, the Apple Watch, an all-new iPad and Apple TV, the company is going to have some great options for gifts this year.

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The first iOS 9.0 – 9.0.2 jailbreak is here!

Just four months after iOS 9 was released to developers, the first jailbreak has appeared. A Chinese research team called Pangu has released a Windows software package allowing for an untethered jailbreak for iPhones running iOS 9.0-9.0.2. It’s the first such package, and as with any jailbreak, installing it will expose the phone to unvetted software and will make the operating system at large significantly less stable. Still, the news has been greeted with enthusiasm by many in the jailbreak community, and there are already extensive guides to help users through the process.

The jailbreak isn’t perfect, and users have particularly noticed a string of bugs around the PreferenceLoader function, not surprisingly for a jailbreak this fresh. Still, there’s reason to trust this version. Pangu is well regarded in the jailbreak community after a string of successful jailbreaks for iOS versions dating back to iOS 7.

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iOS 9: Fastest iOS adoption ever, already on 50% of iDevices!

It’s been less than a week since iOS 9 was released, but it’s already being used by more than 50 percent of iOS devices, according to an Apple press release. The 50%+ adoption rate in less than a week is, as Apple puts it, the fastest iOS adoption ever.

In addition, Apple reiterated its upcoming launch of the iPhone 6s, stating that customers may come to their local Apple Store on Friday, September 25th, as it will be fulfilling walk-in orders. Customers are thus encouraged to arrive early, as supply will no doubt be limited, especially if there’s a specific color/size/carrier combination that you simply must have.

“iOS 9 is also off to an amazing start, on pace to be downloaded by more users than any other software release in Apple’s history,” said Apple SVP of Marketing, Phil Schiller.

In addition, Apple is gearing up for the launch of its 9th generation iPhone, the iPhone 6s:

“Customer response to the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus has been incredibly positive, we can’t wait to get our most advanced iPhones ever into customers’ hands starting this Friday.”

As stated, customers will be able to walk-in, even if they do not have reservations, but supply is not guaranteed. In addition, if you’re in a tax-free state in the US, or in China, Hong Kong, or Japan, reservations are a requirement.

With all of that said, if you’ve yet to pre-order and plan on walking in store, it’s best to arrive at least an hour early, if not more. Last year I had success, and I arrived after the doors opened at 8AM, but that’s probably more of the exception than the rule.

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Apple announces the iPad Pro with the new Apple Stylus and Smart Keyboard!

Today, Apple unveiled “the biggest news in iPad since the iPad,” as CEO Tim Cook put it. Yes, the iPad Pro gets real. It’s got the biggest screen in an iOS device measuring 12.9 inches diagonally and is driven by the fastest Apple-designed iOS device processor yet.

Apple’s Senior Vice President of Worldwide Marketing, Phil Schiller, raved about the benefits of the bigger screen that provides more screen real estate for games and apps.

That screen has a 2,732-by-2,048 pixel resolution, which works out to5,6 million pixels—that’s more pixels than the 15-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display.

The screen uses technologies created for the 27-inch iMac with 5K Retina screen, sports an oxide TFT layer and has a variable refresh display rate, a first for the iPad.

The device runs an Apple-designed ‘A9X’ processor with that provides double the bandwidth to the memory, double performance to flash storage and double the graphics over the iPad Air 2’s A8X processor. The A9X has more RAM than its predecessor, too.

“This is desktop class performance,” Schiller said.

The iPad Pro is faster than 80 percent of portable PCs that shipped in the past twelve months. And in graphics tests it’s faster than 90 percent of them.

Apps like AutoDesk 360 from Autodesk can handle huge sets of data and iMovie can handle 4K video editing.

It has four stereo speakers, too, with three times the audio volume of the iPad Air 2’s speaker.

The iPad Pro has the same 10-hour battery life, despite having a much more powerful hardware than any iPad before it.

Smart Keyboard

Apple also said that a new keyboard accessory called the Smart Keyboard will be available for the iPad Pro. It’s interesting that the iPad Pro has a new type of connector based on three new circles running around the sides of the device.

They’re calling it the Smart Connector and it carries power, data and connects magnetically to the keyboard, with the software automatically adapting to the physical keyboard.

Apple Pencil

The rumors were true: Apple now has a stylus of its own.

The Apple Pencil uses highly responsive sensors inside the tip to detect position, force and tilt.

The Apple Pencil has a built-in battery, features a Lightning connector to connect directly into iPad Pro for charging and is highly responsive so it should really feel natural to draw curved shapes and more.

Apple invited Microsoft executives to demo rich content and document creation with the Apple Stylus in mobile Office apps using features like shape recognition, annotations, ink and more.

Adobe showed off three distinct applications running on the iPad Pro with stylus support: Abobe Comp, Adobe Photoshop Fix (a brand new iPad-exclusive app announced today, shipping in October) and Adobe Photoshop Sketch.

Lastly, the demo session ended with a dedicated body anatomy app for the iPad Pro from 3D4Medical that supports the Apple Stylus for “pinpoint precision editing”.

Availability

The iPad Pro starts at $799 for a Wi-Fi-only model with thirty-two gigabytes of storage and goes all the way up to $949/$1099 for 64GB/128GB editions. Wi-Fi + Cellular models are a $130 extra.

The Apple Pencil is priced at $99 and the Smart Keyboard will be $169. The iPad Pro, the Apple Pencil and the Smart Keyboard for the iPad Pro will be available in November, Apple said.

What to expect from Apple’s Event this Wednesday?

Apple executives will take the stage in San Francisco on Wednesday for a special media briefing, during which we expect them to announce next-generation iPhones, a refreshed Apple TV, and provide updates on iOS 9 and OS X 10.11 El Capitan. Here’s a breakdown of everything you need to know.

iPhone 6s and 6s Plus

Wednesday’s event is likely to bring the debut of the”iPhone 6s” and “6s Plus”, mid-cycle updates to make what is now Apple’s flagship product faster and more useful.

The primary upgrades will come internally, with a new “A9” processor and an increase in base RAM from 1 gigabyte to 2 gigabytes on tap. Capacity is unlikely to change, however, starting at 16 gigabytes and topping out at 128 gigabytes.

The camera systems are also likely to get a makeover, bumping the shooters to 12 megapixels around back and 5 megapixels up front. That larger rear component might add a new white subpixel — helping with low-light performance — while some rumors have suggested that the selfie cam could gain its own flash and the ability to capture slow-motion video at 60 frames per second.

Speaking of new features, many believe that Force Touch will make the leap from the Apple Watch to the iPhone 6s-series. There’s no word on how it will be used, but Apple would almost certainly take advantage of the added “depth” to clean up some user interface cruft.
Externally, the new handsets may be marginally thicker than the current versions, but consumers shouldn’t notice the difference. One change they will notice is a new rose gold color option to match the Apple Watch, though it’s unknown if rose gold will replace or augment the current champagne gold hue.

Given previous product timelines, it’s likely that the new iPhone 6s series will find its way into the hands of consumers for a Friday, Sept. 18 launch date.

Apple TV 4

Apple TV’s existing gaming capabilities are limited to AirPlay streams of iOS games.

The first Apple TV hardware change in more than 3 years is reportedly centered around improving the puck’s gaming credentials, a bid to bring iOS’s casual gaming dominance to the living room. To that end, the upgraded set-top box is thought to pack an all-new remote control with a built-in microphone and touchpad, alongside possible support for third-party, Xbox-like gamepads.

An App Store would accompany revised internals, bumping the built-in processor at or near the iPad Air 2’s A8X with internal storage that would likely eclipse the current model’s 8 gigabytes of space. Support for 4K video output might also appear, though rumors surrounding that feature have been sparse.

In terms of media content, Apple is unlikely to showcase its long-rumored web television service on Wednesday as numerous reports have painted talks with networks and content owners as ongoing and somewhat contentious. The company may introduce a revamped content discovery interface, however — one based on Siri which allows users to search for titles across every service available on the Apple TV.

The hardware upgrades are thought to have driven a cost increase, bumping the price of an Apple TV from its current $69 to as high as $149.

iOS 9 & OS X 10.11 El Capitan

Apple’s next-generation mobile and desktop operating systems were announced at WWDC this summer, and the company is likely to announce details of final availability on Wednesday. Both will be free upgrades for existing users.

iOS 9 is a major update, bringing proper multitasking to the iPad alongside transit directions in Apple Maps and an all-new, Flipboard-style News app. Other headline features include expanded search functions and new Siri commands that complement more proactive notifications and suggestions.

Efficiency improvements will bring better battery life to iOS devices, and smaller, scheduled upgrades will make it easier for users to keep their devices up to date.

OS X El Capitan is somewhat more restrained, focusing on refinements to OS X’s user experience and improving performance across Apple’s range of desktop and notebook computers. Front and center is a change from Helvetica to Apple’s in-house San Francisco typeface for the user interface, while several built-in apps have been upgraded.

Spotlight has an expansive new list of data resources, for instance, and Safari adds pinned sites for the first time. Mail gains a new two-up fullscreen view, while new window management features will allow users to easily snap apps to different portions of the display.

Given Apple’s past launch strategies, it’s likely that iOS 9 will launch to the public on Wednesday, Sept. 16. The debut of El Capitan is less clear — in recent years, Apple has launched OS X upgrades in October.

iPad Pro

Industry insiders are split as to whether or not Apple will unveil the so-called “iPad Pro” at this week’s event. Apple traditionally holds an iPad-centric event in October, which would seem a more likely venue for the new jumbo tablet.

If Apple does show off its new device on Wednesday, it is likely to sport a Retina display that extends over 12 inches on the diagonal alongside additional speakers, all in a chassis more svelte than the current iPad Air 2. A pressure-sensitive stylus would allow for more precise input for professional users.

Others

It’s not clear what Apple will do with the iPhone 5c, but the debut of a so-called “iPhone 6c” at Wednesday’s event seems unlikely. Very few details of the device have leaked in the run-up to the briefing, and some Apple watchers have gone as far as to note that evidence of such a device has disappeared from the supply chain.

The story is much the same with an “iPad Air 3,” though that device will almost certainly see an update later this year.

The “iPad mini 4” could bow on Wednesday, but it might also be held until the later iPad event and announced alongside the iPad Air 3 and iPad Pro. When it does see the light of day, the new mini is rumored to be essentially a shrunken version of the Air 2.

How to Watch

Apple will stream the event live to iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Mac, and second- and third-gen Apple TV units on Wednesday starting at 10 a.m. Pacific (8:00 PM Beirut Time). For the first time in years, Windows users will be able to join in, provided they are running Microsoft Edge on Windows 10.

Of course, we’ll be covering the Event on Wednesday, so keep an eye on ElieChahine.com!

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