Apple: ‘We can't keep up with demand’

Global passion for Apple unabated as consumer demand outstrips supply across iPhone, iPad and iMac ranges, Apple says. But investors worry about innovation.

Tim Cook saw his salary rise to $1.36m from the $900,000 he got in 2011 Photo: Reuters

As Apple announced record profits, chief executive Tim Cook confirmed that even supplies of older, cheaper models of the iPhone were not enough to satisfy demand, and that sales of iMacs fell primarily because the company could not make the new design fast enough. He added that iPad Mini demand, too, continued to outstrip supply as consumers flocked to the device that Apple’s Steve Jobs had said the company should never make.

“If you look at the iPhone sales across the quarter, we were very constrained for much of the quarter on iPhone 5. As we begin to produce more and ship more, sales went up. iPhone 4 was actually in constraint for the entire quarter. Sales remained strong. That’s how sales progressed along the quarter,” said Cook. Overall, the iPhone provides 56pc of Apple’s revenue.

Mr Cook also downplayed the prospect of new products: ““We’re not interested in revenue for revenues’ sake,” he said. “We could put the Apple brand on a lot more stuff, but we don’t want to do that.”

The company sold a record 47.8m iPhones, helped by the launch of the iPhone 5 in September. Sales of the iPad reached 22.9m, eclipsing the 22.4m that had been forecast. Sales of iPods also beat forecasts as consumers snapped up 12.7m of them.

Overall revenues for the quarter were $54.5bn, 18pc higher than the same quarter in 2011, and Apple announced record profits of $13.1bn. It also announced, however, that the next quarter would likely provide sales of $41-$43bn, down from Wall Street hopes of at least $45bn.