Google is getting better at selling hardware as revenues rise 13% in Q3
Alphabet has announced the Q3 2015 numbers for Google. That’s something we’re not used to saying, but the numbers and process don’t change. Revenues ($18.67 billion) are up and profit ($4.7 billion) is up — 13% and 27% year-on-year, respectively.
As usual, the bulk of Google’s revenue was driven by advertising through search and YouTube. The company did so well that they’ve announced a $5 billion stock buyback, a move which had their stock jump 10% in after-hours trading.
Google doesn’t typically disclose many hard numbers about other facets of their business, such as hardware. We’ll probably never know how well each Nexus device does. That said, we do know that the Chromecast is still going strong, with sales said to be over 20 million to date.
The company’s hardware division — which includes Chromecast, Nexus phones and tablets and Chromebooks — is up 11% year-on-year and responsible for 10% of Google’s overall revenue.
That’s not an insignificant chunk by any stretch of the imagination, and things can only get better. While the bulk of that performance may be on Chromecast, Google is starting to get serious about marketing their Nexus devices, even going as far as airing ads for them on premium prime time television slots.
As for Alphabet’s other companies, they still aren’t ready to disclose any meaningful figures just yet. Alphabet says that everything not named “Google” will be touched on in a separate quarterly report starting in Q4.
Investors will be happy to hear that, as it will mark the biggest degree of transparency Google has given on their X Labs and other research-driven divisions since the company started dabbling in those areas. We’ll be all ears once that time rolls around.