Apple's first quarter results for the fiscal year set new revenue records

In its latest quarterly report, Apple had several good pieces of news to share, including year-over-year improvements in Q4 iPhone originating revenues of 29%, equating to a sizeable $37.2 billion - this outcome came in spite of flat growth in smartphone shipments. The company also recorded its highest ever service revenue result of $10 billion for the same quarter, up 17% from the same period in 2017.

Now, the company has released its latest results and, while iPhone revenues fell by 15% compared to the same quarter last year, there was a 19% increase in revenues associated with "all other products and services". Meanwhile, at the top level, Apple raked in $84.3 billion in quarterly revenues, although this result was a retreat of 5% compared to the same quarter last fiscal year. The Cupertino giant also cited a healthy increase in revenues for iPad (17%) as well as its "Wearables, Home, and Accessories" category (33%), while the Mac saw growth of 9%.

With respect to the results, CEO Tim Cook said:

"While it was disappointing to miss our revenue guidance, we manage Apple for the long term, and this quarter’s results demonstrate that the underlying strength of our business runs deep and wide."

Cook also made note of a new install-base record of 1.4 billion devices with growth noted through all of Apple's geographic markets, helping to boost revenue from services up to $10.9 billion - an increase of 19% compared to the prior year.

Meanwhile, Apple CFO Luca Maestri talked up the company's returns to investors and its cash flow, saying that:

"We generated very strong operating cash flow of $26.7 billion during the December quarter and set an all-time EPS record of $4.18. We returned over $13 billion to our investors during the quarter through dividends and share repurchases. Our net cash balance was $130 billion at the end of the quarter, and we continue to target a net cash neutral position over time."

In its guidance for Q2 FY2019, the company is estimating revenues of "between $55 billion and $59 billion" which would represent an increase of approximately 3% against last year's Q2 result of $53.3 billion. Of course, with legal stoushes against Qualcomm still underway, it remains to be seen if Apple can continue to weather the storm over the next few months.