Apple Biggest Quarterly Profit
Apple reported a net profit of $18bn (£11.8bn) in its fiscal first quarter, which tops the $15.9bn made by ExxonMobil in the second quarter of 2012, according to Standard and Poor's.
Apple sold 74.5 million iPhones in the three months to 27 December - well ahead of most analysts' expectations. In a conference call with financial analysts Apple's chief executive Tim Cook said that demand for phones was "staggering". However, this could be at the cost of iPad sales, falling by 18% in 2014 from a year earlier.
Apple's impressive results represent a significant shift towards the massive untapped potential of China, with a strong line-up of devices entering the final quarter, it was able to reap the fruits of its deal with the world's biggest mobile network, China Mobile.
However, the following a recent inquiry by the UK BBC using undercover BBC Panorama investigators the programme, revealed poor treatment of workers in Chinese factories which make Apple products. Filming on an iPhone 6 production line showed Apple's promises to protect workers were routinely broken.
It found standards on workers' hours, ID cards, dormitories, work meetings and juvenile workers were being breached at the Pegatron factories. Apple said it strongly disagreed with the programme's conclusions, exhausted workers were filmed falling asleep on their 12-hour shifts at the Pegatron factories on the outskirts of Shanghai.
One undercover reporter, working in a factory making parts for Apple computers, had to work 18 days in a row despite repeated requests for a day off. Whilst these standards of work practice are deplorable. We would ask about the quality of workmanship being produced by these workers.
It is important to point out that the Panorama programme was aired following the sensational sales figures, whether this will change the fortunes of Apple.
The results could well have been better, it is reported that on a conference call to discuss earnings, Mr Cook complained of fierce foreign exchange volatility, which added Apple to a growing list of US firms who have been hurt by the strong dollar abroad. Apple added that currency fluctuations shaved 4% from its first-quarter revenue.
Sales in greater China hit $16bn in 2014 - a 70% increase from a year earlier, and almost equalling the $17bn in sales the company recorded in Europe last year.
A report by Canalys released on Tuesday said that Apple had overtaken competitors to become China's number one seller of smartphones by units shipped in the fourth quarter of 2014.
