Apple fails to meet analyst expectations

APPLE last night reported fourth-quarter profit and sales that missed analysts’expectations after it sold fewer iPhones than analysts’ projected.

Profit was $4.84 billion (€3.4bn) or $5.16 a share, compared with $3.15€bn, or $3.39 a share, a year earlier, Cupertino, California-based Apple said in a statement. Revenue in the quarter that ended in September was $20.69bn. Analysts had predicted profit of $5.35 a share on sales of $21.64bn.

Apple sold 17.07 million iPhones, compared with the 20 million predicted by analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. Consumers held off buying the smartphone ahead of the release of a new version last week, after the quarter ended.