大屏iPhone熱銷刷新蘋果利潤紀錄

SAN FRANCISCO — Apple’s biggest cash cow, the iPhone, is gaining weight.

舊金山——蘋果公司(Apple)最大的搖錢樹iPhone發揮出了越來越大的能量。

Sales of iPhones, including the new, big-screen iPhone 6 models released last month, helped carry Apple to a record-breaking quarter and offset slowing sales of one of Apple’s other major products, the iPad, the company announced Monday. Apple sold 39 million iPhones in the quarter that ended Sept. 27, a significant bump from the 33.8 million it sold in the same period last year.

公司週一宣佈，iPhone的銷量，其中包括上個月發佈的兩款大屏iPhone 6，幫助蘋果取得了破紀錄的季度數據，並衝抵了另一個主要產品iPad的銷售放緩所帶來的負面影響。在9月27日結束的一個季度裏，蘋果共售出了3900萬臺iPhone，與去年同期3380萬臺的銷量相比，有了顯著提升。

Apple appears to be gorging on consumer demand for its smartphone. The company’s $8.2 billion in profit for its fiscal fourth quarter was 13.3 percent higher than the same quarter a year ago. Revenue over the quarter was $42.1 billion, up from $37.5 billion in the same period last year.

消費者對iPhone的需求似乎讓蘋果賺得盆滿鉢滿。公司第四財季的利潤爲82億美元（約合500億元人民幣），同比增長了13.3%。該季度的營收則從去年同期的375億美元漲至421億美元。

“Demand for the new iPhones has been staggering,” said Timothy D. Cook, Apple’s chief executive, about the release of the new iPhones on a financial earnings call with investors. He added: “I’ve never felt so great after a launch before.”

“對新款iPhone的需求令人難以置信，”在與投資者的財報會議上提到新款iPhone的發佈時，蘋果首席執行官蒂姆·D·庫克(Timothy D. Cook)說。他還表示：“以前推出新品時，我的感覺都沒這麼好。”

But impolite as it may be to point out in the middle of such exuberant returns, those numbers — while enviable for most companies — do pose some risk for Apple, which gets about 70 percent of its profits from the iPhone, said Toni Sacconaghi, a financial analyst for Sanford C. Bernstein research.

桑福德·伯恩斯坦公司(Sanford C. Bernstein)的金融分析師託尼·薩克納吉(Toni Sacconaghi)表示，雖然在收益如此豐厚的時候提出一些異議顯得有些不禮貌，但這些讓多數公司感到豔羨的數據也給蘋果帶來了一定的風險。蘋果70%的利潤來自iPhone。

As with any company increasingly reliant on a single product, should development of that product falter or if competition from companies like Samsung gets even tougher, Apple would be vulnerable.

對於任何一家越來越依賴單一產品的企業而言，如果這個產品表現不佳，抑或是競爭對手——比如三星——變得更強大，蘋果就會不堪一擊。

“Increasingly Apple is the iPhone story,” said Mr. Sacconaghi.

薩克納吉說，“蘋果越來越像是隻在依靠iPhone。”

Apple shares were up about 1.5 percent to $101.25 in after-hours trading Monday evening.

在週一晚間的盤後交易中，蘋果股價上揚了大約1.5%，漲至101.25美元。

iPhone sales have steadily grown even though overall sales of smartphones are slowing in developed markets like the United States and parts of Europe. But Apple has aggressively fought that trend. Last year, it for the first time released two new iPhone models instead of just one. Last month, Apple again released two new iPhones, this time with bigger screens.

雖然在美國和歐洲部分地區等發達市場，智能手機的整體銷售在放緩，但iPhone的銷售額卻在穩步增長。不過，蘋果在強勢出擊，應對這種趨勢。去年，蘋果首次同時推出兩款新iPhone，而不是隻推出一款。上個月，蘋果再次推出兩款新機，並帶有更大的屏幕。

The larger iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus smartphones got a strong reaction early. In the first weekend that the new iPhones went on sale in September, Apple sold 10 million of the devices, up from the nine million new iPhones sold last year on their opening weekend.

大屏iPhone 6和iPhone 6 Plus很快就激起了熱烈反響。在9月上市的第一個週末，就賣出了1000萬臺，而去年新款iPhone在上市第一個週末的銷量則爲900萬臺。

On top of that, Apple has teamed up with phone carriers in important markets, particularly China.

另外，蘋果還與重要市場的移動電話運營商展開了合作，尤其是在中國。

Apple’s quarterly revenue beat Wall Street expectations of $39.9 billion, according to a survey of analysts by Thomson Reuters. Apple’s $1.42 per share profit also exceed analyst expectations for $1.31 a share. For Apple’s full fiscal year of 2014, profit was $39.5 billion on revenue of $182.8 billion.

根據湯森路透(Thomson Reuters)分析師的調查，蘋果的季度收益超過了華爾街預期的399億美元。蘋果1.42美元的每股收益也高於分析師預計的1.31美元。對於蘋果的整個2014財年，公司營收爲1828億美元，利潤爲395億美元。

Now for the bad news: The company on Monday said it sold 12.3 million iPads over the quarter, down from 14 million in the same quarter last year. The company’s iPad sales were down in the previous quarter, too.

但壞消息是：蘋果週一通報，整個季度售出了1230萬臺iPad，而去年同期的銷量則爲1400萬臺。公司在前一季度的iPad銷量也出現了下滑。

J.P. Gownder, a technology analyst for Forrester Research, said that it appeared tablet makers had not established a steady pattern for how often people upgrade to new tablets. He added that the faster and thinner iPad Air 2, which was announced last week, could give incentive for professional customers to buy a tablet, but an iPad with an even bigger screen would have driven more new demand.

弗雷斯特研究公司(Forrester Research)的科技分析師J·P·高恩德(J. P. Gownder)稱，平板電腦生產商似乎還沒爲人們升級到新平板的頻率確立一個穩定的模式。他接着說，上週發佈的更快速、更輕薄的iPad Air 2可能會刺激專業消費者購買平板電腦，但如果iPad的屏幕更大一些，或許早已帶出了更多新需求。

Apple also said it sold 5.5 million Macs over the quarter, a major improvement from the 4.6 million it sold in the same period last year. But the Mac is still a small fry compared to the iPhone.

蘋果還表示，這一季度售出了550萬臺Mac電腦。與去年同期的460萬臺相比，增幅明顯。但相比於iPhone，Mac仍是無關大局。

On the earnings call, Mr. Cook said that Apple continues to be very bullish about the iPad’s prospects. He noted that over four years, Apple has sold about 230 million iPads, which is double the number of iPhones it sold over the first four years.

在財報電話會議上，庫克稱蘋果依然很看好iPad的前景。他指出，四年來，蘋果已經售出了大約2.3億臺iPad，是iPhone頭四年銷量的兩倍。

He added that sales of some of Apple’s other products may be eating into iPad sales, and that was not a concern.

他接着表示，蘋果的其他一些產品可能會侵蝕iPad的銷量，但並不值得擔心。

“I’m sure some people looked at a Mac and an iPad and decided on the Mac,” Mr. Cook said, “and I’m fine with that, by the way.”

“我相信，有些人看到Mac和iPad後，決定買Mac。順便提一句，這對我來說沒問題。”

Apple executives are bullish about the upcoming holiday quarter. Apple told investors that it expects to make between $63.5 billion and $66.5 billion of revenue for its fiscal first quarter next year. That compares to $57.6 billion in revenue in the same quarter one year ago.

蘋果的高管很看好即將到來的假日季。蘋果告訴投資者，公司預計明年第一個財季的收入在635億美元至665億美元之間。相比之下，今年同期的數據則爲576億美元。

The question remains if a brand-new product — the Apple Watch due for release early next year — could one day become a star that rivals the iPhone in terms of sales and profit.

一直縈繞在蘋果頭上的問題是，會不會有一款全新的產品——比如定於明年初發售的Apple Watch——在某一天成爲明星，在銷售額和利潤上堪比iPhone？

Notably, Apple said on the call that in its future financial reports, the company would include sales numbers for the watch in the “Other” category, along with the Apple TV and iPods — products that have been less successful. That made analysts wonder if Apple had low expectations for the Watch.

值得注意的是，蘋果在電話會議上表示，在未來的財報中，公司將把Apple Watch的銷售數據納入“其他”那一類，而同屬這一類別的還有不那麼成功的Apple TV和iPod。這使得分析師們懷疑，蘋果是否對這款產品的期望值較低。

Mr. Cook said Apple did not form the category based on expectations and admitted he was lumping the Watch in with other products for competitive purposes. “I’m not very anxious in reporting a lot of numbers on Apple Watch and giving a lot of detail on it, because our competitors are looking for it,” Mr. Cook said.

庫克表示，蘋果不是根據預期來分類的，並承認將Watch和其他產品放在一起是出於競爭目的。“我不是很着急通報和Apple Watch有關的大量數據，或是透露它的很多細節，因爲我們的競爭對手正等着呢，”庫克說。