Live blog: Apple’s fiscal year Q4 2017 earnings call

Moments ago, Apple announced the results for its fiscal fourth quarter of 2017, reporting profits of $10.7 billion on revenue of $52.6 billion. The company sold 46.7 million iPhones, 10.3 million iPads, and 5.4 million Macs. As usual, next up on the docket is Apple’s quarterly earnings call, which will kick-off at 2PM PT/5PM ET and we’ll have live coverage right here…

For the full earnings release, check out our coverage here. As usual, Tim Cook was optimistic about the numbers, saying:

“We’re happy to report a very strong finish to a great fiscal 2017, with record fourth quarter revenue, year-over-year growth for all our product categories, and our best quarter ever for Services,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO.

“With fantastic new products including iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus, Apple Watch Series 3, and Apple TV 4K joining our product lineup, we’re looking forward to a great holiday season, and with the launch of iPhone X getting underway right now, we couldn’t be more excited as we begin to deliver our vision for the future with this stunning device.”

The call is slated to begin at 2PM PT/5PM ET. Tim Cook will likely kick things off with a broad overview at the numbers, with CFO Luca Maestri then diving in for a deeper look. Things will wrap up with a Q&A from analysts. Check out all of the details from the call down below:

Tim Cook:

• Recapping earnings report numbers…
• Record marketshare gain for iPad, iPhone, and Mac
• Record Mac sales in Greater China
• Revenue for emerging markets up 40 percent
  • Revenue doubled
• Touting iPhone 8 sales, ‘the most popular iPhone models’
• Launch of iPhone X is now ‘underway’
  • ‘Packed with innovative new technologies that chart our way into the next decade’
  • Early pre-orders ‘very strong’
• Second consecutive quarter of double digit growth for iPad
  • ‘More power than most PC notebooks’
• Already over 1,000 AR apps available for iOS 11 users
• ‘Highest ever Mac revenue quarter ever for Apple’
  • Thanks to Mac refreshes in June, strong back to school, and High Sierra
• 50 percent unit growth for Apple Watch quarter over quarter
  • Best selling and most loved wearable in the world
  • ‘Customers love the freedom of cellular’
• Entire wearables business up 75 percent YOY
  • Already generated the revenue of a Fortune 400 company in 2017
• Apple expects holiday season to mark Apple’s ‘biggest quarter ever’

Luca Maestri:

• Diving deeper into numbers
• ‘Especially happy to return to growth in Greater China’
• 30 percent growth in Mexico, Middle East, Turkey, and east/central Europe
• Customer satisfaction for iPhone and other products at record highs
• Highest purchase intent for iPhone in history of the device
  • Loyalty rate at 95 percent
• App Store sets a new all-time record
• Services included favorable one-time revenue adjustment of $640 million
• App Store redesign driving more frequent visits from users
• 75 percent growth for paid Apple Music subscribers
• Across all Services, the number of paid subscriptions reached 210 million – an increase of 25 million in last 90 days
• Over the past year, Apple Pay active users have doubled and transactions up 320 percent
• $25.8 billion in revenue for the Mac
  • Driven by strong demand for MacBook Pro
  • Double digit growth in education YOY
• Talking enterprise growth, new General Electric partnership
• Over 200k Today at Apple sessions held around the world
  • 418 million visitors to retail stores, up 19 percent
• Returned $11 billion to investors during Q4 17
• Ended with $268.9 billion in cash (!!!!)
• Rehashing expectations for holiday quarter, more on that here

Q&A Time!

• Question: Luca, when do you expect to catch up with iPhone X demand? Should we think about March as a better than season revenue quarter?
  • Tim (sorry, Luca): The ramp for iPhone X is going well, especially considering it being the most advanced iPhone created. Really happy we’re able to increase week-by-week outputs. Going to get as many of them as possible to customers as soon possible. I can’t predict when that balance will happen.
• Color on iPhone X pre-orders and breakdown per model?
  • Tim: We never go through mix, but I would share with you that iPhone X orders are very strong for both direct customers and carriers channels throughout the world. We couldn’t be more excited to get underway. I think, as of a few minutes ago, the first sale happened in Australia.
• Color on iPhone pricing lineup? With broader lineup than prior years, what are you expecting for Q4?
  • We had good success through the different iPhones. We’ve tried hard to have an iPhone that is as affordable as possible for people who really want an iPhone and may have a more limited budget. And we’ve got three new iPhones and people will look at these and decide which they want. This is the first time we’ve ever had three new iPhones at the top of the line and first time with a staggered launch. We’re going to see what happens, but we’ve put our best thinking into what could happen.
• Did iPhone 8 Plus outsell iPhone 8? Any more details on mix?
  • We won’t comment on mix, but iPhone 8 Plus off to the fastest start of any Plus model, which was a surprise to us. Important to remember that most customers buy on installment plans.
  • An iPhone X costs less than one coffee per day at one of those nice coffee places.
  • We price iPhones based on the value we provide, not based on the highest price we can get.
• iPhone X availability pushed to unprecedented levels, is that pushout due to demand or limit in supply?
  • Tim: The truth is we don’t know. you can see from the guidance that we’re very bullish. We feel really great about this product lineup. We just sold the first unit minutes ago, so we’ll see how this goes. Any kind of mix discussion is estimating. We’ve never done this before so there’s no comparison here.
• What has been the general response to iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus in Mainland China? Response to iPhone X?
  • We don’t disclose mix, we view it as competitive information that we want to hold tightly.
  • Our emerging market performance during the quarter was very strong, if you take China out it was even stronger. You can see that China rebounded. We had phenomenal quarter on the iPad, the Mac, the iPhone, the Apple Watch. We’re firing on all cylinders.