Apple sold fewer iPhones but made more money thanks to the iPhone X

Apple’s first quarterly earnings reports for 2018 are in, and the company has reported that it sold 77.3 million iPhones in Q1 2018 (which includes the holiday season). That number is down 1.24 percent year over year from last year (78.3 million). But despite the slump in sales, iPhone revenue increased overall year over year, up 11.69 percent from $54.38 billion to $61.58 billion.

While predictions for the average sale price of iPhone units sold during the quarter ranged from $710 to $755, the actual ASP was $796 (compared to $694 in Q1 2017), which directly explains the increase of revenue despite the decrease in sales. That said, despite the record revenue, analysts were still expecting a slight increase of approximately 1.5 percent year over year for units shipped, not a decrease.

My estimate for iPhone units was expecting a lot more iPhone 8 with an average pricing of $710. Actual ASP was $796. A LOT of iPhone X were sold.

— Horace Dediu (@asymco) February 1, 2018

Total sales are up 13 percent year over year for the company, with Apple posting quarterly revenue of $88.3 billion. According to Apple CEO Tim Cook, the “iPhone X surpassed our expectations and has been our top-selling iPhone every week since it shipped in November,” which likely contributed to the shift in numbers. Apple may have sold fewer iPhones, but the ones it is selling are the most expensive yet.