Pour one out of the analysts and industry insiders who believed Microsoft’s Xbox console business and Microsoft in general weren’t long for this world. Late this afternoon Microsoft announced it sold 6.6 million Xbox consoles during the quarter that ended December 31st and took in an impressive $26.5 billion.
Microsoft revealed both figures in its quarterly earnings report this afternoon. All told, both are impressive considering the Xbox One had to come from behind to beat Sony’s PlayStation 4 in sales in the United States. Microsoft didn’t say how many of those 6.6 million consoles were Xbox Ones and how many were Xbox 360s.
Impressively, Microsoft’s Surface business — had $1.1 billion in revenue, firmly cementing it as Microsoft’s next big hardware business behind the Xbox. The company says that this figure was 24% higher because of the Surface Pro 3 it launched last summer and new accessories. Microsoft also sold 10.5 million Lumia smartphones, more than it ever has before, but revenue for Windows Phone dropped because now Microsoft owns Nokia Devices and Services and it can’t very well pay itself for licensing fees.
