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Apple breaks iPhone and iPad sales records in Q1 2014

Apple breaks iPhone and iPad sales records in Q1 2014

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51 million iPhones and 26 million iPads bring Apple record revenue

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Apple predicted its first financial quarter of 2014 to be a big one, and those predictions were spot on. Revenues hit $57.6 billion, a new quarterly record for the company, while profits reached $13.1 billion, equal to the quarterly record set last year and continuing the trend of shrinking profit margins at Cupertino. After surging to over $700 in 2012, Apple's share price fell to under $400 in 2013. It's slowly recovered since, standing at around $551 prior to today's earnings call. The positive results should persuade investors that the company still has room to grow, albeit at a slower rate.

A record quarter for iPhone and iPad

The company's financial Q1, which covers October to December, is traditionally its strongest. Buoyed by the release of the iPad Air, iPad mini with Retina display, and the first full quarter of iPhone 5S and 5C sales, it should come as no surprise that Apple's iOS devices did very well. iPhone sales broke 50 million for the first time in a single quarter, reaching 51 million, while iPad sales also set a new record of 26 million. Those figures are staggeringly high for a company with a relatively small product range. Once Apple's savior, iPod sales slumped further to just 6 million — down from 12.7 million this time last year.

Although Apple doesn't give a full breakdown of iPad and iPhone models sold, there's some insight to be taken from ASP, the average selling price of a device range. Over the past year, ASP has dropped to historically low levels, from $613 in Q2 2013 down to $577 in Q4 2013. That figure rose for the first time in a while this quarter, up to $636. That figure is still slightly under this time last year when the average iPhone was selling for $642.

iPhone ASP rose for the first time in a year

The rise implies that more users are opting for Apple's flagship iPhone 5S, rather than the cheaper iPhone 5C and iPhone 4S. There have been many rumors that the iPhone 5C is not selling well, although some have suggested that the lower-cost model will rise in popularity as early adopters generally pick more expensive models. iPad ASP, which fell sharply following the introduction of the popular iPad mini, rose slightly this quarter from $439 to $440, showing no indication of change after the introduction of iPad Air and iPad mini with Retina display.

Macs performed well, despite some analysts' predictions

Although Macs accounted for less than 13 percent of Apple's overall revenue last year, they still represent an important part of the company's business, 30 years after their first introduction. Sales have been something of an enigma recently, with key analysts Gartner and IDC disagreeing massively on the number of computers Apple has sold in the US this quarter: Gartner said sales were up 28.5 percent, while IDC saw a 5.7 percent slump. In reality, Mac revenues hit $6.4 billion in Q1, representing 4.8 million Macs sold. That's a good rise from last year's $5.5 billion revenue and 4 million Macs sold, and a fairly big error for IDC.

Looking to next quarter, Apple expects revenues to be fairly flat. The company is known for giving conservative estimates to investors, and predicts revenue in the range of $42 billion to $44 billion. In Q2 2013, Apple made $9.5 billion profit from $43.6 billion revenue.

Apple's holding a conference call to discuss the earnings at 5PM ET today, and you can follow along live here.

Read next: Apple Q1 2014 earnings conference call