Apple CEO Tim Cook reveals the new iPhone 12.
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Apple posted its biggest quarter in revenue of all time on Wednesday, with $ 111.4 billion in its first quarter earnings report for fiscal year 2021. It is the first time that Apple has crossed the symbolic mark US $ 100 billion in a single quarter, and sales increased 21% year-over-year.
Apple’s results for the quarter ended in December were not only driven by sales of the iPhone 5G. Sales for each product category increased by double-digit percentage points. Apple’s earnings per share and sales far exceeded Wall Street expectations.
Here’s how Apple fared from the consensus Refinitiv estimates:
- EPS: $ 1.68 vs. Estimated $ 1.41
- Revenue: $ 111.44 billion versus an estimated $ 103.28 billion, an increase of 21% year on year
- IPhone revenue: $ 65.60 billion versus an estimated $ 59.80 billion, up 17% year-over-year
- Service revenue: $ 15.76 billion versus an estimated $ 14.80 billion, an increase of 24% year on year
- Other product revenue: $ 12.97 billion versus an estimated $ 11.96 billion, up 29% year-over-year
- Mac revenue: $ 8.68 billion versus an estimated $ 8.69 billion, up 21% year-over-year
- IPad revenue: $ 8.44 billion versus an estimated $ 7.46 billion, up 41% year-over-year
- Gross margin: 39.8% vs. 38.0% estimated
Apple CEO Tim Cook said the results could have been even better had it not been for the Covid-19 pandemic and the blockages that forced Apple to temporarily close some Apple stores around the world.
“Taking stores out of the equation, especially for iPhones and wearables, there is an obstacle to sales,” Cook told Josh Lipton of CNBC.
Apple did not provide official guidance for the next quarter. It has not offered investors forecasts since the pandemic began.
But even the lack of guidance has not diminished what was a booming quarter for the iPhone maker. Apple benefited during the pandemic from increased sales of PCs and gadgets, as people who are working or going to school at home because of the blockades are looking to update the devices they use.
Apple launched new iPhone models in October. The four iPhone 12 models are the first to include the 5G, which investors believe could lead to a “super cycle” of users calling for an upgrade. IPhone revenue increased 17% over the same period last year.
“They are full of features that customers love and arrived on time, with where the 5G networks were,” said Cook.
The category of other Apple products, which includes Apple Watch and headphones like AirPods and Beats, grew 29% from last year, to $ 12.97 billion, even as people spent less time commuting and traveling. Apple launched a set of high-end headphones, AirPods Pro Max, in December, with a suggested price of $ 549.
Macs and iPads, Apple devices most likely to be used for remote work and school, also rose this quarter. Apple launched new Mac computers powered by its own chips instead of Intel processors in December, with positive reviews that said they were superior in power and battery life to older models.
Apple’s services business, which the company highlighted as a growth driver, grew 24% year on year to $ 15.76 billion. This product category is comprehensive: it includes the money Apple earns from the App Store, digital content subscriptions like Apple Music or Apple TV +, licensing fees paid by Google to be the standard iPhone search engine, and warranties.
Apple said in its statement that international sales accounted for 64% of the company’s sales, up from 61% in the same quarter last year. The performance of the new iPhone models in China, the company’s third largest market, is a constant topic of discussion among investors.
“China was strong in all areas,” said Cook.
Apple also declared a cash dividend of $ 0.205 cents per share and said it spent more than $ 30 billion on the total return to shareholders, which includes share buybacks, during the quarter.
Apple’s first fiscal quarter is typically the largest of the year and includes critical end-of-year sales during December.
Wednesday’s busted profits are also a recovery story for Apple. Two years ago, Apple warned that its Christmas sales forecast was lower than the company expected, a rare warning that raised doubts as to whether Apple was losing momentum. On Wednesday, Apple revealed that revenue has grown by more than 40% since that report.