Apple sold slightly fewer iPhones than analysts had expected last quarter, but the numbers may be good enough to calm Wall Street after weeks of concerns about demand for the smartphone.
Apple said Tuesday that it sold 52.2 million iPhones during the first three months of the year, up just 3% from the same period a year earlier. Analysts had expected Apple to sell 53 million iPhones.
Despite the limited growth in the number of iPhones sold, Apple sales hit $61 billion for the quarter, an increase of 16% from the same period a year earlier, fueled by the higher price tag of the iPhone.
The company cushioned the news with a big giveaway to investors.
Apple plans a new $100 billion share buyback program and a 16% increase in its quarterly dividends, following on the heels of the US tax law changes signed late last year.
The tax bill makes it cheaper for Apple to bring back the more than $250 billion it holds overseas.
Apple stock rose 3% in after hours trading Tuesday following the earnings report.
Apple stock fell this month after one of its key chip suppliers warned of “continued weak demand.” Since then, a series of analysts have slashed their estimates for iPhone shipments.
Daniel Ives, an analyst with GBH Insights, wrote in an investor note last week that Wall Street was in “full panic mode” over iPhone sales ahead of Apple’s earnings report.
Much of the concern was directed at the iPhone X. The new model, with a full bleed screen and facial recognition, was once viewed by investors as key to driving customers to upgrade their smartphones. But there have been fears that, at $999, it was priced too high.
In a statement with the earnings report Tuesday, Apple CEO Tim Cook said “customers chose iPhone X more than any other iPhone each week in the March quarter.”
