Apple’s iPhone X hits stores as profits soar

Company has announced 19% jump in profit in fourth quarter ended September

PARIS: Apple's flagship iPhone X hit stores around the world on Friday, as the company predicted bumper sales despite the handset's eye-watering price tag and celebrated a surge in profits.

Apple enthusiasts around the globe were lining up to get their hands on the new device which features facial recognition, cordless charging and an edge-to-edge screen made of organic light-emitting diodes used in high-end televisions.



The new gadget marks the 10th anniversary of the first iPhone release and is released in about 50 markets on Friday, starting in Asia and then followed by Europe and the Americas.

The launch came as Apple announced a 19-percent jump in net profit to $10.7 billion in the fiscal fourth quarter to September 30. Revenues were up 12 percent at $52.6 billion.

"If I don't get it on the first day, I may as well wait until next year's model - I don't like waiting," said Mathew Kam, a 21-year-old film student who had been queuing outside the Apple store on London's Regent Street for 16 hours.

Earlier in Asia, buyers who had pre-ordered the phone online queued to pick up their new purchases, saying they were willing to pay for what they saw as a landmark model.

Apple is setting an ambitious goal for itself to reinvent the smartphone as it strives to fend off fierce competition from rivals, especially in China.

The iPhone is its main profit driver, accounting for more than half its revenues.



Apple closed out its fiscal year with full-year profit of $48.35 billion and revenues of $229 billion.

Smartphone sales climbed by about a million units to 46.7 million in the final quarter of the California company's fiscal year, which Apple chief executive Tim Cook called a "very strong finish" to 2017.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 4^th, 2017.

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