SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 30 (Xinhua) -- Apple Inc. posted record 64 billion U.S. dollars in revenue for the fourth fiscal quarter that ends in September, up by 2 percent year on year.
In a report Wednesday, Apple said the profits growth, which beat market expectations of 63 billion dollars, brought its quarterly earnings per diluted share to 3.03 dollars, an increase of 4 percent, compared to 2.91 dollars per share a year ago.
The sales of Apple's iPhones, which remained its top moneymakers, fell by about 9.2 percent to earn 33.36 billion dollars, compared to 36.76 billion dollars in the corresponding period last year.
However, the reduction in iPhone sales was offset by the growth in sales in other areas such as services and wearables.
Apple's services grew to 12.5 billion dollars, about 2 billion dollars more than the figure of 10.5 billion dollars a year ago.
The California-based company said in an earnings call Wednesday afternoon that it now has 450 million paid subscriptions across all of its services, compared to 330 million just a year ago.
"We concluded a groundbreaking fiscal 2019 with our highest Q4 revenue ever, fueled by accelerating growth from Services, Wearables and iPad," said Apple CEO Tim Cook.
"With customers and reviewers raving about the new generation of iPhones, today's debut of new, noise-cancelling AirPods Pro, the hotly-anticipated arrival of Apple TV+ just two days away, and our best lineup of products and services ever, we're very optimistic about what the holiday quarter has in store," he said.
Apple saw a slight reduction of sales in Greater China region in the fourth quarter, down from 11.4 billion dollars to 11.1 billion dollars recorded a year ago.
Looking ahead, Apple forecast sales revenue of 85.5-89.5 billion dollars in the first fiscal quarter of 2020 that ends in December, with a 37.5-38.5 percent gross margin.
