Apple posts $6.62 billion profit but iPod sales down 27%

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Despite announcing huge profits, it was the first quarter in years that Apple has failed to match analysts' expectations

Apple iPad 2

Apple has announced its financial results for the fourth fiscal quarter in 2011, and despite huge profits they slipped below analysts' expectations.

The company posted revenue for the quarter of $28.27 billion, compared to $20.34 billion in the same quarter last year.

This left Apple on $7.05 per diluted share, below analysts' predictions of $7.31 and said to be the first time Apple has failed to match the sky-high expectations.

Apple sold 17.07m iPhones in Q4, representing a 21% growth compared to the same period last year.

While Apple iPad sales hit 11.1 million, an increase of 166% year-on-year, iPod sales were down 27% to 6.62m.

With the new iPhone 4S selling faster than any previous Apple product – 4 million units over the first weekend – it looks set to be a bumper first fiscal quarter of 2012.

Peter Oppenheimer, Apple’s CFO, said: “Looking ahead to the first fiscal quarter of 2012, which will span 14 weeks rather than 13, we expect revenue of about $37 billion and we expect diluted earnings per share of about $9.30.”

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Joe Cox
Joe Cox
Content Director

Joe is the Content Director for What Hi-Fi? and Future’s Product Testing, having previously been the Global Editor-in-Chief of What Hi-Fi?. He has worked on What Hi-Fi? across the print magazine and website for almost 20 years, writing news, reviews and features on everything from turntables to TVs, headphones to hi-fi separates. He has covered product launch events across the world, from Apple to Technics, Sony and Samsung; reported from CES, the Bristol Show, and Munich High End for many years; and written for sites such as the BBC, Stuff, and the Guardian. In his spare time, he enjoys expanding his vinyl collection and cycling (not at the same time).