Consumer tech giant Apple (AAPL -0.06%) reported fiscal fourth-quarter earnings yesterday after the bell. Shares traded down slightly after hours, and are down about 1% today.
The headline numbers were solid overall. Apple reported $37.5 billion in revenue, with a profit of $8.26 per share. Both numbers beat analysts' estimates. Apple's iPhone sales jumped 24% over the year-ago quarter, coming in at 33.8 million, a new record for the September quarter. Given that the new iPhone 5s and 5c were only available for nine days of the quarter, and that the 5s was in limited supply, that 24% jump is especially impressive. But iPad sales were nearly flat compared to last year.
Motley Fool analyst David Hanson explains the quarter for investors, and notes iPads didn't post much growth likely because consumers largely anticipated the new models announced Oct. 22: the iPad Air and the iPad Mini with Retina display. Those are expected to give a significant boost to iPad sales for Apple's holiday quarter.
