Apple (AAPL) shares moved higher Friday following a report that the tech giant will likely sustain the pace of iPhone sales into the final quarter of its fiscal year.
A cautious outlook from its main assembler, Foxonn, earlier this week had raised concerns over waning smartphone demand over the second half of the year.
Foxconn said it sees current-quarter smartphone revenues to come in flat to last year, citing "geopolitics, inflationary pressure and the Covid pandemic", with support from solid demand in its cloud and networking products divisions. Apple typically accounts for around half of Taiwan-based Foxconn's annual revenue.
Apple, however, expects is assembler base to make 220 million iPhones this year -- on pace with 2021 levels -- including 90 million of its newest iPhone 13, according to a report from Bloomberg.
Late last month. Apple declined to provide detailed September quarter revenue guidance following its better-than-expected third quarter earnings, but said overall revenue growth would likely outpace gains over the three months ending in June.
pple said solid China demand, as well as a muted supply chain hit, helped iPhone revenues rise 2.8% from last year to $40.67 billion over the June quarter, just ahead of the $40.5 billion Street forecast.
Overall, Apple earned more than $19.44 billion for its fiscal third quarter, as revenues rose 2% from last year to $82.96 billion, just ahead of analysts' estimates of $82.88 billion.
Apple shares were marked 1.5% higher in late-morning trading Fridayto change hands at $171.02 each, nudging the stock to a six-month gain of 1.27%.
