Apple has filed its quarterly 10-Q form with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission today, confirming that the company has a total of 4,829,926,000 outstanding shares on the stock market as of July 20, 2018. That's down from 4,915,138,000 shares three months earlier as Apple has continued to buy back its own stock.
Based on multiplying the latest total by Apple's closing stock price today of $201.50, the iPhone maker has a market cap of roughly $973 billion, making it ever so close to becoming a trillion dollar company.
The exact moment that Apple crosses the trillion dollar mark will be difficult to determine, as Apple continues to buy back and retire shares, reducing the number of outstanding shares. The total reflected in the 10-Q form is already nearly two weeks old, and has likely decreased over that time.
Everyone from investors to fanatical customers has been closely watching the AAPL ticker on the stock market to see if Apple will become the world's only and arguably first publicly traded company with a trillion dollar valuation. Tech rivals Amazon, Microsoft, and Google parent company Alphabet are also in the race.
For now, the wait for $1,000,000,000,000 continues, but it doesn't look like it will take much longer for Apple to pull off the feat.
Samsung today announced the launch of its latest tablet, the Galaxy Tab S4, which, like Apple's iPad Pro, has been designed as a computer replacement with productivity in mind.
The new 10.5-inch Galaxy Tab S4 is described as the "ultimate entertainment and multitasking assistant" thanks to the inclusion of Samsung DeX, which is the first time Samsung has built the feature into a tablet.
DeX is a docking solution that is designed to allow Samsung smartphone owners (and now tablet owners) to connect their devices to a keyboard, mouse, and monitor through a USB-C port, an HDMI port, and two USB ports. DeX on the Galaxy Tab S4 works using a simple HDMI adapter or with the DeX dock options and it offers true multitasking capabilities with users able to open multiple windows at one time.
Samsung is offering a $150 Book Cover Keyboard alongside the Galaxy Tab S4, which can be paired with DeX to transform the tablet into a PC alongside a Bluetooth mouse, but it will also work with any Bluetooth keyboard and mouse option.
Like other Samsung devices, the Galaxy Tab S4 can also be paired with the included S Pen, a stylus for taking notes, drawings, artwork, and other purposes.
Apple's iPad Pro lineup, comparatively, includes an optional Smart Keyboard and Apple Pencil, along with the ability to pair third-party Bluetooth keyboards, but it does not support mouse functionality.
When it comes to hardware, the Galaxy Tab S4 is equipped with Qualcomm's octa-core Snapdragon 835 processor, 4GB RAM, 64GB to 256GB of storage space that can be expanded with a microSD card, and a 7,300mAh battery that it boasts offers 16 hours of video playback, outpacing the iPad Pro's 10 hour battery.
The tablet includes a 16:10 AMOLED display, and there is no Home button or fingerprint sensor on the device, with Samsung instead relying on facial recognition and iris scanning for biometric authentication.
Other features include quad speakers much like the iPad Pro, Bixby integration, 13-megapixel front and rear cameras, and a fast charging feature that charges the battery to full in 200 minutes.
Samsung's new tablet is priced at $650 for 64GB of storage or $750 for 256GB of storage, which is on par with Apple's pricing for the 10.5-inch iPad Pro. Apple charges $649 for the 64GB 10.5-inch iPad Pro, $799 for a 256GB version, and $999 for a 512GB version.
Samsung is releasing the new Galaxy Tab S4 on August 10, which is just after the company plans to unveil its new flagship Galaxy Note 9 device.
Apple also has a major tablet upgrade in the works with new iPad Pro models on the horizon, but it is not clear when the company will unveil them. The new tablets could come in September alongside new iPhones or Apple could wait until later in the fall, perhaps hosting a separate October event for new iPads and Macs.
Apple's updated iPad Pro models are expected to offer a complete iPhone X-style redesign, doing away with the Home button, introducing slimmer bezels for more available screen space, and adopting Face ID and the TrueDepth camera system for biometric authentication.
Reddit this morning announced that it has suffered a data breach, with a hacker able to access email addresses from some current accounts and a 2007 database backup that included old salted and hashed passwords.
The data breach occurred between June 14 and June 18, with hackers accessing Reddit employee accounts through the company's cloud and source code hosting providers rather than the site itself. Those systems used SMS-based two-factor authentication that failed, and the main attack happened through SMS intercept.
Reddit has a detailed list of what was accessed. A complete copy of an old database backup containing early Reddit user data was stolen, and Reddit says that the most significant data in the backup included account credentials (username and salted hashed passwords) email addresses, and public and private messages.
Email digests sent by Reddit in June 2018 were also obtained. This included usernames linked to an associated email address along with suggested posts from select subreddits.
Reddit is sending emails to users affected by the database hack, which does not impact people who signed up for reddit after 2007.
Customers who do not have an email address associated with their accounts or who did not check the "email digests" user preference are not affected by the email digest breach.
Reddit has informed law enforcement and is cooperating with an investigation and has taken measures to ensure privileged access to its systems are more secure.
Reddit says it will be resetting the passwords of affected users, but the site recommends all Redditors consider updating their passwords to something strong and unique, as well as enabling two-factor authentication. Reddit's two-factor authentication is via authenticator app and is not vulnerable to SMS intercept.
Apple today released a new update for Safari Technology Preview, the experimental browser Apple first introduced over two years ago in March of 2016. Apple designed the Safari Technology Preview to test features that may be introduced into future release versions of Safari.
Safari Technology Preview release 62 includes bug fixes and feature improvements for Intelligent Tracking Prevention, JavaScript, Media, Rendering, Dark Mode, Web API, Web Inspector, SVG, Web Animations, CSS, IndexedDB, and Accessibility.
The new Safari Technology Preview update is available for both macOS High Sierra and macOS Mojave, the newest version of the Mac operating system that’s currently being beta tested by developers.
Apple outlines a few known issues in this release for the macOS Mojave version of the browser. Text does not render properly in the Smart Search Field in Dark Mode and there is no usable WebDriver implementation.
The Safari Technology Preview update is available through the Software Update mechanism in the Mac App Store (or in System Preferences in Mojave) to anyone who has downloaded the browser. Full release notes for the update are available on the Safari Technology Preview website.
Apple’s aim with Safari Technology Preview is to gather feedback from developers and users on its browser development process. Safari Technology Preview can run side-by-side with the existing Safari browser and while designed for developers, it does not require a developer account to download.
Chase, one of the major banks in the United States, today announced that customers can now use Apple Pay and other mobile wallet services at nearly all of the company's 16,000 ATMs, which have been upgraded with card-free access.
To access an ATM and withdraw money, customers no longer need a physical debit card or access code for authentication, with the contactless ATMs supporting a "tap" from a smartphone to use the ATM.
On its website, Chase walks users through the steps necessary to use the new ATM functionality.
For iPhone users, after adding a Chase card to the Wallet app on the iPhone, at an ATM, customers will need to open up the Wallet app, select the virtual Chase debit card and tap the iPhone on the "Cardless" symbol on the ATM, authenticating via Face ID or Touch ID.
A PIN code will need to be entered for verification purposes, so it's not quite as simple as a standard payment with Apple Pay, but it does prevent Chase card users from needing to pull out a physical card.
Chase says that cardless ATM access is available to all customers with a Chase debit or Liquid card that's been added to Apple Pay, Google Pay, or Samsung Pay. All Chase ATMs with the Cardless symbol support Apple Pay.
Chase first announced plans to update its ATMs with contactless money withdrawals in 2016, and has since then been rolling out the technology. Today's update suggests the rollout is nearly complete and available to most Chase customers.
Both Wells Fargo and Bank of America, Chase competitors, have also been rolling out card-free Apple Pay access to ATMs. Wells Fargo added Apple Pay support to over 5,000 ATMs last year, while Bank of America began implementing the feature in 2016.
Apple shares crossed the $200 mark in intraday trading today, setting a new all-time high for the company's stock.
Apple's stock is up over five percent since the market closed on Tuesday, after the company reported a record-breaking $53.3 billion in revenue, meeting the high end of its guidance and topping Wall Street expectations.
All eyes are on the AAPL ticker as Apple hovers ever so close to a trillion dollar valuation, but the company's precise market cap can't be determined until Apple files its quarterly 10-Q form today with an updated total of outstanding shares.
It's also the first time Apple has sold fewer than four million Macs in a quarter since the third quarter of 2013, a span of five years.
Apple reported sales of 4.29 million Macs in the same quarter a year ago, so this is a pretty significant 13 percent decline on a year-over-year basis. Mac revenue also dropped five percent over the year-ago quarter.
There are a number of possible explanations for the decline, including consumers increasingly shifting towards the iPhone and iPad. Together, those devices accounted for 65 percent of Apple's revenue last quarter, compared to just 10 percent for the Mac. Apple even markets the iPad as a computer replacement.
The bigger reason, however, may have been that nearly the entire Mac lineup was outdated last quarter. Beyond the iMac Pro, released four months before the quarter began, no other Mac had been updated since 2017 or earlier.
Apple hasn't updated its 12-inch MacBook and iMac lines since June 2017, while the MacBook Air has gone unchanged since March 2015, except for a minor increase in clock speed on the base model last year. Worse, the Mac mini hasn't been refreshed since October 2014, and the Mac Pro has gone unchanged since December 2013 while Apple works on a new modular version for 2019.
While the MacBook Pro was recently updated, the new models didn't launch until 12 days after the third quarter ended. Last year, new MacBook Pro models launched at WWDC in early June, well within the third quarter.
Apple's financial chief Luca Maestri highlighted this "difficult launch comparison" in the company's earnings call on Tuesday:
Our year-over-year sales performance was impacted by the different timing of the MacBook Pro launch, which did not occur until early Q4 this year as opposed to June last year.
The month-later MacBook Pro refresh isn't enough to justify Apple's fewest Mac sales in any quarter since 2010, however, as the notebook has been updated at various times over the years. 2016 models were released in October of that year, for example, while 2013 models launched in February of that year.
Mac sales were the lowest in a quarter since 2010 - hard to blame the MacBook Pro coming out in July versus June. https://t.co/E6QDBJ9VYd
— Mark Gurman (@markgurman) August 1, 2018
Apple said it still recorded double-digit year-over-year growth in its active installed base of Macs last quarter, reaching a new all-time high, with nearly 60 percent of purchases coming from customers who are new to the Mac.
Earlier in the summer, Facebook and Instagram eachpromised that users would soon be able to access a suite of digital health tools to help them manage their time on the social networks and promote healthier habits. Today, the companies revealed these tools in a press release and confirmed they will be rolling out to all mobile app users "soon."
The tools will be found within the settings page on both iOS apps -- on Instagram it'll be called "Your Activity" and on Facebook it'll be called "Your Time on Facebook." At the top of the page, the activity dashboard will highlight your daily average time for each app on the device you have it installed on, and below that will be a bar graph detailing exactly how long you spent per day in each app over the last week.
We developed these tools based on collaboration and inspiration from leading mental health experts and organizations, academics, our own extensive research and feedback from our community. We want the time people spend on Facebook and Instagram to be intentional, positive and inspiring. Our hope is that these tools give people more control over the time they spend on our platforms and also foster conversations between parents and teens about the online habits that are right for them.
Below that is "Manage Your Time" section with a few features that focus on customizing push notifications. One is a "set daily reminder" option, which is an alert that notifies you when you've reached the amount of time you want to spend on Facebook or Instagram for that day. The other is for "notification settings," where you can access a new "mute push notifications" option to limit your Facebook or Instagram notifications for a period of time (15 minutes to 8 hours).
Apple has its own time management settings coming in iOS 12, called "Screen Time," with many of the same features as Facebook's new activity dashboards. In the Settings app in iOS 12, Apple presents information gathered from overall iPhone use on any given day so that users can see which apps they open the most, which send the most notifications, how often they pick up their iPhone, set "Downtime" limits and app limits, and more.
For Facebook, the company says that the new dashboard tools for managing screen time are just a "first step," and it will continue to work to develop features that promote digital health on its platforms.
Signing into apps and services on Apple TV can be frustrating when you're shuttling between characters on the onscreen keyboard, or barking out letters and numbers at your Siri Remote. To make entering login credentials easier, Apple introduced continuity keyboard, an iOS feature that allows users to enter text on their Apple TV using their iPhone or iPad.
In tvOS 12, coming this fall, continuity keyboard has been further enhanced to support Password AutoFill. So whenever you encounter a login screen, you'll see the following notification on your iPhone or iPad.
Simply tap the alert at the top of the screen to bring up the keyboard, and you should be able to fill in your password credentials on Apple TV by tapping the AutoFill suggestion in the Quick Type bar. And if you're using the TV remote or Control Center interface with your Apple TV, the same simple login process applies.
The above assumes your Apple TV and iOS device are on the same iCloud account. But say you're a guest in someone's home, and you'd like to log in to your account on their Apple TV. What then?
Happily, tvOS 12 also caters for this scenario. Apple TV can now ping the Siri Remote to look for a nearby iPhone. Once it's discovered your device, your iPhone will ask you to confirm that you want to use AutoFill. It will then prompt you to enter the authentication PIN displayed on the nearby Apple TV.
On authenticating your iPhone with Face ID, Touch ID, or a passcode, you'll be presented with your passwords list, and the password for the relevant app or service that you want to log in to will appear at the top, ready to send to your friend's Apple TV at a tap.
Password AutoFill on Apple TV requires the installation of tvOS 12 and iOS 12, both which are due to be released in the fall.
Apple has been allowing developers and members of the public to test beta versions of new iOS, macOS, watchOS, and tvOS releases for quite some time now, and during today's earnings call, Apple CEO Tim Cook provided insight into just how many people try out new software ahead when it's officially released.
At the current time, Apple has "over 4 million users" participating in its OS beta programs, according to Cook.
Public beta testers have access to iOS 12, macOS Mojave, and tvOS 12, three operating system updates that will be rolling out this fall after an extended beta testing period, while developers have access to iOS 12, macOS Mojave, tvOS 12, and watchOS 5. watchOS 5, a new software update for the Apple Watch, is limited to developers because it's not possible to downgrade the software on an Apple Watch.
Public beta testers and developers are tasked with testing Apple's software to help the company suss out bugs and improve features ahead of a public launch.
Apple did not break out how many users participate in each of its beta programs, nor what percentage of those users are developers or public beta testers, but it's probably safe to say that iOS gets the lion's share of interest.
Despite Apple's robust beta testing process, there are still major bugs that slip through on occasion, but Apple offers frequent fixes and updates for all of its operating systems.
With 54.2 million smartphones shipped in the second calendar quarter of 2018, Chinese smartphone company Huawei has surpassed Apple to become the number two worldwide smartphone vendor, according to new data shared today by IDC.
During the quarter, which includes data from April to June, Apple shipped 41.3 million iPhones worldwide, a number that it shared earlier today with its earnings release for its third fiscal quarter. In the year-ago quarter, Apple shipped 41 million iPhones, marking just a small increase in shipments this year.
According to IDC, Apple's share of the smartphone market for the quarter was 12.1 percent, compared to Huawei's 15.8 percent. Huawei saw 41 percent year-over-year growth in market share with an increase of 15.7 million smartphones shipped in Q2 2018 compared to Q2 2017.
Samsung continues to be the number one smartphone vendor with 71.5 million smartphones shipped and 20.9 percent of the market, with Xiaomi and OPPO trailing after Apple and Huawei with 31.9 and 29.4 million smartphones shipped, respectively. Canalys, Strategy Analytics, and IHS Market have also published data agreeing with IDC's assessment of the smartphone market.
In total, IDC says there were 342 million smartphones shipped during the second quarter of 2018, a 1.8 percent decline from the 348.2 million smartphones shipped during the second quarter of 2017.
While Apple's iPhone shipments were largely stagnant year-over-year, the higher average selling price it achieved with the iPhone X resulted in an impressive 20 percent increase in revenue and iPhone earnings of nearly $30 billion.
IDC's numbers look only at total number of smartphones shipped, with Huawei seeing major growth in the $600 to $800 segment thanks to the P20 and P20 Pro series.
We are likely to see shifts in these smartphone vendor rankings over the course of the next few quarters as this is Apple's weakest quarter. At this point, Apple's flagship iPhones are several months old, which always results in a slowdown in sales. After new devices are released in the fall, Apple will see much stronger shipment numbers during the fiscal fourth quarter of 2018 and first fiscal quarter of 2019.
Apple dropped to the third spot for the first time despite its second quarter growth. Apple shipped 41.3 million iPhones, representing modest growth of 0.7% over the 41.0 million units shipped last year. The iPhone continued to perform well at the high end as the iPhone X remains a top seller in many markets. Apple will look to regain control of the market this fall with the expected launch of three next generations of iPhone models. The new models are rumored to bring different screens sizes, price points, increased performance, and new features to the table when they arrive next quarter.
Rumors suggest Apple plans to better compete in the mid-priced smartphone market in late 2018 and 2019 with a lower-priced 6.1-inch feature-rich iPhone that offers Face ID, an edge-to-edge display, and the same fast processor as the company's more expensive OLED models.
On our MacRumors YouTube channel, we have a bi-monthly video series that's designed to highlight new, interesting, and useful iOS apps that we think are worth downloading and checking out.
There are so many apps in the iOS App Store that it can be hard to find new content, and it's also easy to overlook great apps that are a bit older. Our app lists include both new and old apps that we recommend and have personally tested out.
Our picks this month are game heavy, with two games that we've enjoyed featured. We've also included a list-making app that was recently updated with some fresh design elements, an app for tracking shows you want to watch, and a simple but useful app that stitches screenshots together.
Watchlist ($1.99) - There are a lot of options for TV shows and movies these days, and it can be difficult to remember everything that you want to watch. With Watchlist, when you see a trailer for a movie or show you might like or get a recommendation from a friend, you can add it into the app so you never lose track of great content you want to see. You can also see the availability of TV shows and movies on Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, and iTunes.
Bring! (Free) - Bring is a shopping list app that's been around for about a year, but it recently got some useful design tweaks in the form of a new quick access toolbar. Bring is a simple, visual based shopping list that's also collaborative so everyone in the household can add items that are needed. You can add product photos to make sure you purchase the correct brands, and there are options to make lists for different occasions and places, like work and home.
Tailor (Free) - Tailor is an app that's designed to stitch together your screenshots, useful if you want to share a Messages conversation, an email, app data, or anything else you might need to take multiple screenshots of to capture in its entirety. Tailor is free to use, but it's ad supported with an option to pay $2.99 to remove the ads.
Hello Neighbor (Free to try) - Hello Neighbor is a creepy stealth horror game where you're tasked with sneaking into your weird neighbor's house to figure out what's going on in his basement. You need to sneak in and solve puzzles without getting caught, because your neighbor doesn't take kindly to intruders. This is a popular game that's been available on PCs and consoles but recently made its way to mobile. It's free to download and try, but you need to pay $14.99 to unlock the full game.
Westworld (Free) - Westworld is a world-building game that's based on the popular TV show "Westworld." If you've played Fallout Shelter, the gameplay is pretty similar -- so similar in fact, that Bethesda has sued Warner Bros for copyright infringement and misappropriation of trade secrets. Even though it's like Fallout Shelter, there are some differences and despite the legal woes, it's an entertaining game, especially for Westworld fans. It's free, but there are in-app purchases for content add-ons and in-app currency.
Have a favorite iOS app? Let us know down in the comments. We're always looking for new iOS app ideas for this video series, and we'll check out all of your recommendations. You can also check out our recommendations from previous months here, and don't miss our similar Mac app series featuring some great Mac apps.
During today's earnings call covering the third fiscal quarter of 2018, Apple CEO Tim Cook was questioned about the health of the smartphone market and the impact the company's choice to offer low-cost battery replacements might have on replacement cycles.
In response, Cook said that he believes the smartphone market is "very healthy. "It's the best market to be in for someone in the business that we're in," said Cook. "Whether it grows one percent or two percent or five percent or six percent or 10 percent or shrinks one or two percent, it's a great market because it's just huge."
iPhone revenue, Cook pointed out, was up 20 percent during the quarter compared to the third quarter of 2017, and Apple has seen mid-single digit growth averages on a weekly sales basis and double-digit growth on an ASP basis. Apple sold a total of 41.3 million iPhones during the quarter, bringing in revenue of nearly $30 billion. The iPhone X continued to be the most popular iPhone during the quarter.
Cook said that he does believe replacement cycles are lengthening, and he says the "major catalyst" for that has been the fact that subsidized plans have become a much smaller percentage of total sales around the world. Apple's goal is to make great products to encourage customers to purchase new devices.
I think for us, the thing we always have to do is come out with a really great, innovative product. I think iPhone X shows that when you deliver that, there's enough people out there that will like that, and it can be a really great business.
In a separate response given to a question about Apple's focus on the home, Cook shared additional comments about the importance of smartphones. "The smartphone has become the repository that goes across the whole of your life, not something meant for a portion of it," he said. He went on to explain that Apple is focused on a number of areas with its product lineup -- home, work, the time between, health, and more. "We're focused on all of those things."
In terms of the battery replacement program that has seen Apple offering $29 iPhone battery replacements since the beginning of the year, Cook reiterated a statement he made back in February during an earlier earnings call. Apple, he said, has never done an internal analysis on how many people bought a battery compared to purchasing a new phone because it wasn't a factor in the decision.
"It was never about that for us," said Cook. "It was about doing something great for the user. Treat users and customers well and you have a good business over time. That's how we look at that."
Apple CEO Tim Cook this afternoon spoke about the tariffs the United States has imposed on goods imported from China, and how Apple might be impacted.
Cook said that while Apple believes the trade agreements the United States has with other major economies are in need of modernization, the company does not think that tariffs are the right approach. "We're sort of encouraging dialogue and so forth," said Cook.
Apple CEO Tim Cook with Donald Trump at the Executive Tech Summit at Trump Tower in December 2016
In terms of the three tariffs that have already been put in place that impact steel, aluminum, and $50B worth of additional goods from China, none of Apple's products have been directly impacted.
A fourth tariff on $200 billion in Chinese goods is out for public comment, and Apple says it is evaluating the tariff and will be sharing its views on it with the administration before the end of the comment period. The original Apple Watch has been named in the latest proposal, alongside devices that include the Fitbit charge and some Sonos speakers. Apple has already discontinued its original Apple Watch and newer Apple Watch models are not impacted.
Cook said that examining tariffs is a "tedious process" because there are factors to consider that include not only revenue, but also purchases being made through other companies unrelated to revenue, such as data centers. Apple plans to share its results at a later date.
According to Cook, the risk associated with a macroeconomic issue like an economic slowdown or currency fluctuation is difficult to quantify, and that's not something Apple is trying to do. Cook said that Apple is "optimistic" that the tariff issue will get sorted out. "There's an inescapability of mutuality between the United States and China," said Cook. "Each country can only prosper if the other does... and the world needs the U.S. to and China to prosper."
Cook said that while he can't predict the future, he's "optimistic" that the countries will get through this. "We're hoping that calm heads prevail," said Cook.
Note: Due to the political nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Politics, Religion, Social Issues forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.
Apple's services category continues to see rapid growth, further cementing its position as an important revenue driver for Apple.
During the third fiscal quarter of 2018, Apple's services revenue brought in $9.55 billion in revenue, up 31 percent from the $7.27 billion in revenue services earned in the third quarter of 2017.
The services category includes iTunes, the App Store, the Mac App Store, Apple Music, iCloud, Apple Pay, and AppleCare.
According to Apple CEO Tim Cook, Apple "feels great" about the momentum in its services business, and the company saw double digit growth in its active services installed base. This quarter's growth was driven by strong performance in a number of area.
Subscriptions from Apple and third parties have surpassed $300 million, an increase of 60 percent year over year. Cook called the revenue from subscriptions "significant" and an "increasing portion of services."
There are now nearly 30,000 apps that offer subscriptions, a number that continues to see strong growth.
Cook said that App Store revenue, which set a new June quarter revenue, had exceeded Apple's "wildest expectations." Customers around the world are visiting the App Store more often and downloading more apps than ever before. Citing third-party research, Cook said pointed out that the iOS App Store saw twice the revenue of Google Play.
Apple has seen rapid growth in revenue from App Store search ads, with a recent update expanding search ads to Japan, South Korea, France, Germany.
Apple Music grew by more than 50 percent year-over-year (with Cook again reiterating the 50M subscriber number from May), and AppleCare grew at its highest rate in 18 quarters. Apple's cloud services revenue was up 50 percent year over year, and communications services, including FaceTime and Messages, are hitting all time usage highs. Siri requests have exceeded 100 billion, and articles read on Apple News have doubled year over year.
Apple in 2017 set itself a goal to double its services revenue to $14 billion per quarter by 2020, and the company is well on its way to reaching that goal.
Earlier this year, Morgan Stanley analyst Katy Huberty predicted that over the course of the next five years, services revenue growth will contribute more than 50 percent of Apple's total revenue growth.
Huberty estimated that services revenue is at $30 per device, with just 18 percent of Apple's total device install base subscribing to paid services, leaving plenty of room for growth in the coming years.
Apple is working on bolstering its services category, with rumors suggesting that a new TV streaming service for its original TV shows is in the works, along with a magazine subscription service based on its April Texture acquisition.
In response to a question about Apple's future services plans, Cook said that Apple is "thrilled" with its upcoming product pipeline and the new services that are included with it, hinting at that rumored TV service. Cook explained that Apple has hired two TV executives (Jamie Erlicht and Zack Van Amburg) to work on a project that Apple is not ready to discuss. Cook said that Apple is expecting dramatic changes to the content industry and is happy to have something in the works.
"We're not really ready to share all the details of it yet, but I couldn't be more excited about what's going on there. We've got great talent in that area that we've sourced from different places and feel really good about what we will eventually offer."
During today's earnings call for the third quarter of 2018, Apple CEO Tim Cook said that Apple plans to bring Apple Pay to Germany later this year.
Apple Pay support in Germany has been rumored for some time now as Apple has been working to establish deals over fees and other factors with German banks.
Apple did not provide details on exactly when Apple Pay will launch in Germany, but it could come potentially with the debut of iOS 12 in September.
In addition to announcing Apple Pay's upcoming German launch, Cook also said that Apple Pay will be rolling out at CVS drug stores and 7-11 convenience stores in the United States later in the year.
There were upwards of 1 billion Apple Pay transactions in the third quarter of 2018, triple the amount from the year ago with growth accelerating from the March quarter. Cook said that in Q3 2018, there were more Apple Pay transactions than Square transactions, and more mobile transactions than PayPal.
Apple Pay is now available in more than 20 countries, including United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, Singapore, Switzerland, Hong Kong, France, Russia, China, Japan, New Zealand, Spain, Taiwan, Ireland, Italy, Denmark, Finland, Sweden, UAE, Brazil, Ukraine, Norway, and Poland.
Apple's "Other Products" category, which includes AirPods, Apple TV, Apple Watch, iPod touch, HomePod, Beats products, and Apple-branded and third-party accessories brought in $3.74 billion in revenue during the third quarter of 2018, up an impressive 37 percent percent compared to the year-ago quarter.
Apple does not break down the specific sales numbers of products in the "Other" category, which makes it difficult to determine specific sales numbers for products like the HomePod, AirPods, and the Apple Watch, but Apple CEO Tim Cook this afternoon provided some insight into Apple's wearable business.
Revenue from wearables, which includes the Apple Watch and AirPods, saw 60 percent growth year over year, according to Cook. Wearables revenue also exceeded $10 billion over the course of the last four quarters.
Apple Watch had a record-breaking June quarter with revenue growth in the mid 40 percent range. The Apple Watch's record-breaking June quarter comes just weeks ahead of when Apple is expected to introduce a whole new model, with a larger display, better heart rate tracking, and other improved features as outlined in our Apple Watch roundup.
Cook didn't go into details on the AirPods, but he said Apple is "thrilled" to see so many customers using AirPods. "It reminds me of the early days of the iPod," he said. "When I saw those white earbuds everywhere I went."
Apple today announced financial results for the third fiscal quarter of 2018, which corresponds to the second calendar quarter of the year. For the quarter, Apple posted revenue of $53.3 billion and net quarterly profit of $11.5 billion, or $2.34 per diluted share, compared to revenue of $45.4 billion and net quarterly profit of $8.7 billion, or $1.67 per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter.
Gross margin for the quarter was 38.3 percent compared to 38.5 percent in the year-ago quarter, with international sales accounting for 60 percent of revenue. Apple also declared a quarterly dividend payment of $0.73 per share, payable on August 16 to shareholders of record as of August 13.
Apple sold 41.3 million iPhones during the quarter, up slightly from 41.0 million a year earlier, while Mac sales fell to 3.72 million units from 4.29 million units in the year-ago quarter. iPad sales rose slightly to 11.55 million from 11.42 million.
“We’re thrilled to report Apple’s best June quarter ever, and our fourth consecutive quarter of double-digit revenue growth,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “Our Q3 results were driven by continued strong sales of iPhone, Services and Wearables, and we are very excited about the products and services in our pipeline.”
Apple's guidance for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2018 includes expected revenue of $60–62 billion and gross margin between 38 and 38.5 percent.
Apple will provide live streaming of its fiscal Q3 2018 financial results conference call at 2:00 PM Pacific, and MacRumors will update this story with coverage of the conference call highlights.
Apple's conference call has concluded. A rough transcript is ahead...
Apple today 
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