By Fernando Mexia
Los Angeles, Jan 28 (IANS/EFE): Technology giant Apple closed 2014 with a record breaking quarter thanks to the sales of iPhone, particularly the new iPhone 6, which raised its net profit to $18.02 billion, a 37.8 percent year-on-year increase, the company said.
According to a company statement Tuesday, the company took in $74.5 billion between October and December -- 29.5 percent more than a year ago -- with a 36.1 percent increase in its margins.
Apple CEO Tim Cook described the results as historic and incredible surpassing the expectations of financial investors where technology shares climbed more than five percent on trades executed following the end of the day at Wall Street Tuesday.
In total, Apple marketed 74.5 million phones in the fourth quarter -- 46 percent higher than a year earlier -- and although Cook gave no details, he said the iPhone 6 was the most popular device, much more than iPhone 6 Plus and the earlier iPhone 5S and 5C.
"We are doing well in almost all places of the world," said Cook with respect to the iPhone sales that attracted a greater number of smartphone users than ever before, and the highest percentage of change from Android to Apple devices in the past three years, according to its data.
China and Brazil registered the highest sales of these phones.
Apple saw a turnover of 57 percent more per sale of iPhones in the last quarter than in the same period in 2013, and its phone business accounted for 68.6 percent of total revenues.
The company also celebrated the sales of Mac computers, which grew 9 percent, and the activities through their electronic commerce platforms, such as the App Store, which also grew nine percent year-on-year.
However, the sale of iPads registered a fall of 18 percent (21.4 million total) in terms of units and a 22 percent year-on-year decline in revenue, a trend that Cook believes will remain in the next quarter.
A factor listed by Cook for the tablet's declining sales is the life cycle of the iPad, since users usually do not renew the device as often as they change phones.
Cook was also pleased with the iPhone payment technology, Apple Pay, and believed that 2015 would be the year of the system, as will the launch of the smart watch Apple Watch that will debut in April.