Apple’s iPhone 12 generated the highest revenue and profit in the company’s history

Sales of Apple’s iPhone have reached their all-time high, with eager fans snatching the company’s new iPhone 12 during the holiday shopping season, despite the continued spread of the coronavirus.

The three months of Apple’s first fiscal quarter included the launch of its new series of phones, ranging from $ 699 iPhone 12 Mini to $ 1,099 iPhone 12 Pro Max. They weren’t all that was happening, however. The company also expanded its line of computers with new custom chips similar to those that power its iPhones and iPads. And Apple has expanded its services with the $ 10 per month Apple Fitness Plus digital health class offering and its Apple One pricing package, offering access to its TV, music and data storage services from $ 15 per month. .

In all, Apple said it made profits of almost $ 28.8 billion, an increase of about 30% over the same period last year. This translates to $ 1.68 per share in profit, from $ 111.4 billion in general revenue, which alone was more than 21% of the $ 91.8 billion recorded last year. It was also enough to beat analysts’ average estimates, which were $ 1.41 per share in earnings, from $ 103.3 billion in revenue, according to research published by Yahoo Finance.

For Apple, all of this has resulted in the highest corporate profits and revenues it has ever had. It also raised Apple’s revenues above $ 100 billion for the first time.

“It is not far from our minds that this result closes the most challenging year that any of us can remember,” said Apple CEO Tim Cook in an investor conference call on Wednesday. “It is an understatement to say that the challenges it posed for Apple as a company have paled compared to the challenges it has posed for Apple as a community of individuals, for employees, their families and for the communities in which we live and love Call home . “

“These results show the central role that our products played in helping our users respond to these challenges,” added Cook.

Apple shares closed regular trading with a drop of almost 1%, to $ 142.06 per share, and fell nearly another 2% in after-hours trading. The company’s stock has risen nearly 10% so far this year.

Apple’s growth underscores how much we all depend on technology companies in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. As the disease affects billions of lives worldwide, forcing many people to be quarantined at home, we turn to computers, smartphones, social networks and collaboration software to help us continue to work and learn.

Previous Wednesday, Facebook recorded a huge increase in revenue as the gains exceeded expectations. Amazon saw “record demand” last year, and particularly during the holiday shopping season, when people chose to shop online instead of facing a possible infection in stores. Google and its parent company, Alphabet, have also surpassed Wall Street’s optimistic expectations, as marketers spend a lot to get people’s attention online.

And Slack, the business collaboration app, was sold to software giant Salesforce for $ 28 billion, almost double its value before going public in 2019.

Cook said Apple is working to help its communities recover creating programs to encourage students to study technology and new developers to make applications. He also invested money to help promising new startups.

“We are doubly aware that the work ahead of us to navigate to the end of this pandemic, restore normal life and prosperity in our neighborhoods and local economies and build with a sense of justice is profound and urgent,” said Cook. .

Breaking new records

Not only did Apple seem to navigate the pandemic, it became a central response to it. Each of Apple’s businesses grew at double-digit rates, showing how people turned to their products for entertainment, health and education throughout the year.

The iPhone in particular showed strong growth, reaching US $ 65.6 billion in sales, an increase of more than 17% in relation to the US $ 56 billion registered last year. This is despite the fact that some iPhone models are still difficult to find since its launch in October.

“We had a record number of device activations during the last week of the quarter,” said Cook, adding that Apple has 1 billion active iPhone users worldwide. And, he said, they are using Apple services in addition to their devices. “And because COVID-19 kept us apart, we saw the largest volume of calls from FaceTime ever this Christmas.”

Apple said it should have enough iPhones to meet demand by the end of March.

Although the iPhone was a prominent part of Apple’s business, each of the company’s other divisions reported revenues that increased by at least 20%. This included his Mac business, which reached almost $ 8.7 billion in sales; iPad, which grew to $ 8.4 billion; and “wearables, home and accessories” like AirPods and HomePods, which reached almost $ 13 billion.

Apple’s services business, which includes the $ 5 per month Apple TV Plus subscription service and the new $ 10 per month Apple Fitness Plus, has grown to more than $ 15.7 billion.

All of this contributed to Apple’s cash pile, which now stands at more than $ 195 billion.

Cook acknowledged that Apple’s success contrasts with suffering in the rest of the world.

“Whole parts of our lives that we considered normal – schools for our children, meetings with our colleagues, small businesses that have lasted for generations – have simply disappeared,” Cook said. “It will take an entire society effort in the public and private sectors – as individuals and communities, each of us – to ensure that what lies ahead is not simply the end of a disease, but the beginning of something lasting and promising. “

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