Apple sees profits drop in Q4 earnings

Apple's net profit is down 9 percent year-on-year, according to its financial report for the third calendar, and fourth fiscal quarter, of 2013.

For the fiscal quarter that ended Sept 28, Apple posted a net quarterly profit of $7.5 billion, down from $8.2 billion in the same quarter last year. However, the company's quarterly revenue reached a record high of $37.5 billion, an increase of 4 percent year-on-year.

Gross margin for the quarter was 37 percent compared to 40 percent in the same quarter last year, with international sales accounting for 60 percent of revenue.

The company's growth in Q4 was mainly powered by increasing sales in China and Japan. Quarterly revenue in China increased 6 percent year-on-year to $5.73 billion while sales in Japan soared 41 percent year-on-year to $3.34 billion.

Sales in Europe and the Americas in Q4 were basically flat from the same quarter last year with sales in the rest of the Asia-Pacific region down 6 percent year-on-year.

"We're pleased to report a strong finish to an amazing year with record fourth quarter revenue, including sales of almost 34 million iPhones," said Tim Cook, Apple's CEO.

"We're excited to go into the holidays with our new iPhone 5c and iPhone 5s, iOS 7, the new iPad mini with retina display and the incredibly thin and light iPad Air, new MacBook Pros, the radical new Mac Pro, OS X Mavericks and the next generation iWork and iLife apps for OS X and iOS."

Apple's guidance for the first quarter of fiscal 2014 includes expected revenue of $55-58 billion and a gross margin of between 36.5 and 37.5 percent.