Apple closed the past Christmas season with record numbers. Quarterly sales increased nine percent year over year to $ 91.8 billion, the company said. The profit reached $ 22.2 billion after just under $ 20 billion a year earlier. In an initial reaction in after-hours trading, the stock rose by three percent.
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The iPhone, by far the most important product of the group, saw a significant increase in sales of 7.6 percent to just under $ 56 billion after a few quarters of decline. Apple no longer reports on quantities. Last fall, some of the more expensive new models came onto the market.
Small portable devices such as the Apple Watch and AirPods earbuds also saw significant growth. The wearables business soared nearly 37 percent to a good $ 10 billion. In addition to a new generation of watches, Apple also released an improved – and more expensive – pro version of the AirPods during the Christmas season.
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AirPods production cannot keep up with demand
In the first business quarter, neither AirPods nor Series 3 smart watches could be manufactured to meet the demand, said Apple CEO Tim Cook of the Reuters news agency. When it was time to catch up is still unclear, says Cook: “We work very hard for both of them.”
Services such as Apple Music, iCloud storage and Apple TV + grew by around 17 percent to $ 12.7 billion. However, Apple was unable to meet the experts’ expectations in the services division, which was around $ 13 billion.
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However, Cook pointed out that the target of 500 million Apple TV + users will be reached sooner than expected. Cook Reuters said it was very proud to have added 100 million users, “This is huge.” As a new target, the number of 600 million users by the end of the year has now been issued. He described Apple TV + as “great success”.
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For the current quarter, Apple anticipates sales of between $ 63 billion and $ 67 billion. That would be a significant plus compared to the $ 58 billion a year earlier.
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