Apple doesn’t expect any big jumps in the Christmas business. The iPhone Group forecast that sales for the current quarter would be at the same level as the previous year – disappointing the expectations of some investors. At the same time, the American company expects further growth of the iPhone, its most important product.
In the fiscal quarter ending at the end of September, Apple made a profit of almost $23 billion (21.6 billion euros) thanks to iPhone demand. The new iPhone 15 went on sale in September, which will mainly play a role in the Christmas business.
2.8 percent increase in the iPhone business
Its iPhone business grew 2.8 percent year-on-year to $43.8 billion, Apple announced after the U.S. stock market closed on Thursday. This was within investor expectations. Not only did the iPhone bring in nearly half of the company’s revenue, it later gave Apple the ability to sell subscriptions for more storage or music streaming.
In the services sector, which also includes subscription revenue and App Store revenue, revenue rose by more than 16 percent to $22.3 billion.
Computer activities dropped noticeably
In contrast, sales of Mac computers fell by more than a third to $7.6 billion. Apple pointed out that pent-up demand due to previous production bottlenecks boosted sales in the same quarter last year. In addition, a new generation of the popular Macbook Air came onto the market at the time. Apple is now relying on new Macbook Pro models with more powerful chips to increase sales.
Apple did not exceed analyst expectations with sales in the Chinese segment, where the group also includes operations in Taiwan and Hong Kong. Sales there fell 2.5 percent to about $15.1 billion. Recently, competitor Huawei, which was hit hard by American sanctions, had success again with a new smartphone. There is also the question of how tensions between Beijing and Washington could affect the company’s operations. The stock fell by more than three percent in after-hours US trading.
Overall, quarterly revenue fell about one percent to $89.5 billion. At the same time, Apple increased its profit to $22.96 billion from $20.7 billion in the same quarter of the previous year. The fiscal quarter lasted a week longer than a year ago. The current financial quarter will be one week shorter than the comparable period in 2022. CFO Luca Maestri calls this one of the reasons why turnover will remain at last year’s level. On the other hand, a repeat of the results from that time would also fill Apple’s coffers well: the company made almost $30 billion in profit on a turnover of more than $117 billion.
Source: Krone
I’m Ben Stock, a journalist and author at Today Times Live. I specialize in economic news and have been working in the news industry for over five years. My experience spans from local journalism to international business reporting. In my career I’ve had the opportunity to interview some of the world’s leading economists and financial experts, giving me an insight into global trends that is unique among journalists.
