Hasta La Gadget!

Right here at the start of the week we’re seeing a new iteration of the iPad 4 (the first 9.7-inch iPad with a Lightning port) with a newly massive amount of internal storage. While the original largest amount of storage space you’d have been able to get in the iPad was 64GB, the newest version would be 128GB, more storage than you could possibly ever need in your Apple mobile device. The first whisper of this device was found deeply embedded in the heart of a Built Manifest of iOS 6 where only one man, iNeal, was able to find it.

The find was attached to a file that included several System Partitions with 8, 16, 32, 64, and 128GB on the list – gotta catch em all! This wouldn’t be too much of an explosive find if it weren’t in iOS 6 and inside OS X instead, but there it is – never before has there been an iOS-toting Apple machine with that much storage in its guts. According to 9to5mac, this version of the iPad may just be coming out in a variety of non-market releases.

In this case, that insight points toward an internal release for high-up Apple employees alone, government agencies, and other oddities. While such a massive amount of internal storage would be fantastic to have as the average consumer, the price point Apple would have to place it as would be too restrictive for sales to be worth production. The three storage size model tags out at the moment are “GOOD”, “BETTER”, and “BEST”, this largest version is appearing as “ULTIMATE” – ultimately less than realistic for you and I.

Meanwhile we’re getting pumped up for the iPad 5, whatever that’ll end up being at it’s reveal and release later this year. Rumors have only just begun to flow around the iPad 5 and its innards, with the release date being the first thing we’re aiming to nail down – and it looks like Autumn at the moment. Have a peek at the timeline below for more iPad 4/5 action than you can handle and check the massive Apple hub through the future!

[via CNET]

iPad 4 128GB model appears in iOS 6 firmware “leak” is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

This week the folks at Apple have revealed their full Q1 2013 earnings report complete with a new record for revenue in the first quarter. This includes revenue of $54.5 billion for the quarter as well as a net quarterly profit of $13.1 billion USD, this being a lovely set of results comparatively as well as on their own with last year’s revenue and net quarterly profit coming in at $46.33 billion $13.06 billion respectively. It may be the iPhone that we see as the star here, as compared to the already monstrous 37 million units sold in the first quarter last year, the 47.8 million sold reported today seems rather fantastic.

Apple made it clear that, as Tim Cook put it, “We’re thrilled with record revenue of over $54 billion and sales of over 75 million iOS devices in a single quarter.” As the margins continue to push iOS in as the dominant product Apple offers up, the results are plain to see: mobile is driving Apple’s growth right here and now. Apple’s record results today include both their highest quarterly revenue and their highest net income ever reported.

Apple showed iPhone sales to be bursting forth with 47.8 million iPhones sold in this one single quarter – that’s a record for one quarter, mind you. Compared to last year’s 37 million sold in Q1, Apple’s release of the iPhone 5 is being shown as a guiding light. Apple also showed a new record amount of iPads sold in a quarter with 22.9 million units sold – this is also busting out compared to last year’s Q1 with 15.4 million units sold.

Interestingly it seems that both the Mac and the iPod‘s units sold are going downward rather than up, this showing off how mobile is taking hold with connected devices – we want to be online and we want to have our connections made easy, it would seem. Apple’s Mac sales this quarter added up to 4.1 million compared to 5.2 million one year ago this quarter, while iPod sales added up to 12.7 compared to last year’s Q1 total at 15.4 million.

Stockholders are being rewarded this quarter once again with a cash dividend of $2.65 per share of Apple’s own common stock. With $23 billion dollars in cash flow from operations built up over the quarter as well as cash from short and long term investments adding up to $137.1 billion (up $16 billion from the quarter before this one), Apple still appears to be swimming in money.

Apple announced that they’d be changing their approach to guidance, as well. In this case changing guidance means for Apple that while they, in the past, have been reporting “conservative” point estimates, they’ll be more on-point through the future. With plans for estimates reflecting what Apple “believes they can achieve” rather than what they had “reasonable confidence” in achieving, we may be seeing slightly more perfectly adjusted predictions from them in the future, starting with what they’ve suggested today. Apple is projecting between $41 and $43 billion in revenue for Q2 of 2013 as well as a gross margin between 37.5 and 38.5%.

We’ll be seeing Apple continue to take massive chunks of the market through the future, but with something so simple as a projection for a quarter that’s less spectacular than the one we’re in now, we’ll see the company’s stock slide ever so slightly – even if it’s just today. At the moment we’re seeing Apple stock falling around 10.47% in after-hours trading. Expect this to leap up again tomorrow morning once the dust has settled.

Stay tuned to our massive Apple hub through the future and check the timeline below this paragraph to see all the Apple results from this afternoon!

Apple Q1 2013 Round-up: record revenue and 75 million iOS devices sold is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

This week the folks at Apple have revealed the power of their retail Apple Store locations around the USA and throughout the world with a total of 11 new stores opening up and 396 stores in total in operation today. This update makes for a massive amount of stores owned and operated by Apple themselves, selling mostly their own products – 150 of these stores being outside the USA. This all leads to $6.4 billion dollars in revenue through retail sales alone in this past quarter.

This call included notes that Apple opened up 4 new stores in Greater China as well as 14 stores being moved and expanded because of outgrowing their original space. With 396 stores open today with $16.3 million in revenue coming in per store, business is obviously quite good. Apple has also made it clear that the amount of visitors heading to the stores is jumping upward as well, with 121 million visitors coming in this quarter compared to 110 visitors coming in this quarter one year ago.

When you have a look at the number of stores that are open over the sea and the amount of sales that are also outside the USA, they seem to correlate, but not precisely. With 61 percent of sales sitting outside the USA here in Q1 2013 according to Apple, it would seem that more than 150 of the total nearly 400 stores would be outside the states. Instead we’re seeing the smaller number selling more – or simply the internet taking on a bulk of these sales.

Have a peek at the timeline below for more information on this set of results and the rest of Apple’s Q1 2013 reports in segments. Note that the iPhone sold a massive, beastly amount of units with the iPhone 5 being fully ready for action this quarter, while the iPad has seen the iPad mini appearing amongst its ranks as well. Watch our Apple hub as well for more through the week!

Apple Stores bring $6.4 billion revenue alone in Q1 2013 is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Apple just released its earnings report for Q1 2013, ending in December of last year, with a solid hardware quarter overall. The iPhone dominated with 47.8 million units sold in the quarter, up quarterly and yearly, with Apple also breaking records with 22.9 million iPads sold.

The iPhone 5 saw its first full quarter of availability this period, as well as a nice holiday sales boost. Analysts had suggested earlier this month that iPhone 5 production orders had been cut on signs of weak demand.

22.9 million iPads sold is a solid increase from last quarter’s 14 million. It’s also a 33 percent YOY increase, up from 15.4 million last year. The iPad missed predictions last quarter.

Though Apple doesn’t break out specific numbers on various models, it’s fair to assume the iPad mini, which was available for the majority of the period, played a part in the increased sales along with the holiday spike. And let’s not forget, Apple also introduced an upgraded 4th-generation iPad with Lightning port alongside the little guy.

However, the iPad mini has more to make up for, as its gross margin is significantly lower than other products.

Apple sold 47.8 million iPhones over the three-month period, vs. 26.9 million last quarter and 37 million last year. That represents YOY growth of 23 percent.

Analysts believe that the iPhone may have already saturated developed markets like the U.S. and the UK, which are Apple’s strongest regions, which explains the production cuts.

However, Apple is rumored to be developing two versions of the next-gen iPhone, and one is said to be a budget model aimed at developing markets.

In terms of iPods, the new family of colorful iPod products has managed to breathe a little life into a flagging business for Apple. The introduction of the iPhone has most certainly chomped into this segment of the business, but Apple still managed to sell 12.7 million, up from 5.3 million last quarter, representing a YOY loss of 18 percent.

As Apple’s financial Q1 2013 sales report looms (set for the 23rd of this month), Rob Cihra of Evercore Partners has updated projections on sales for the iPad, iPad mini, and everything in-between. Specifically regarding iPad and iPad mini sales, Cihra makes it clear that a 56 percent year-over-year growth is possible comparing Apple’s sales of tablets in their financial Q1 for 2011, with a 71 percent boost appearing compared to the quarter immediately before the one about to be stated by the company officially. These numbers suggest the iPad market to be booming, but due to the projection here of iPad mini numbers alone, we’re seeing some devouring of iPad sales as well.

This analysis from Evercore Partners suggests that Apple’s report will include 24 million units sold in tablets alone. This number is the total between each different kind of iPad, while Cihra suggests that the iPad mini will be 10 million units strong – that’s 42% of the total tablets sold by Apple, mind you. If that’s true, considering the percentage growth it represents compared to past quarters, non-mini iPad sales are growing at a rate that suggests iPad mini sales are indeed leaping off of iPad sales while the full group grows by leaps and bounds.

If you look back at Apple’s financial Q4 in 2012, you’ll see that they reported selling 16 million iPads – that’s before the iPad mini was launched. Here in this quarter if indeed sales have moved up 71 percent to 24 million tablets (12 million of them being iPads alone). While the iPad’s sales go down from 16 million to 12 million, the iPad mini is launched with 10 million – and again, that’s all projected.

Considering a 35 percent growth in iPad sales overall in this projection, would you, the reader, say that Apple made the right decision in creating the iPad mini? What do you think iPad sales would be like if they’d stuck with the larger size display alone? Do you think Cihra’s projections will be accurate? We’ll see on the 23rd – next week!

[via Apple Insider]

iPad mini projected to drive AND cannibalize iPad sales in Q1 2013 is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.