Apple reported gentle gross sales of its flagship iPhone in the course of the vacation quarter, however nonetheless managed to prime Wall Avenue forecasts for income and earnings per share.
Income inched up 4% year-over-year within the interval ended December 31 (the corporate’s first quarter of fiscal 2025), reaching $124.3 billion. The income determine was a hair higher than Wall Avenue analysts’ consensus estimate, however earnings per share of $2.40, properly forward of consensus.
Product income elevated 1.6% to a shade lower than $98 billion, reflecting sluggish gross sales of the iPhone in addition to in China. Providers income climbed 14% to $26.3 billion.
Gross sales of the iPhone 16 haven’t been as sturdy as Apple or its buyers had hoped because the system was launched in September 2024. The category-defining handset nonetheless accounts for roughly half of the corporate’s income. The rollout of a brand new model of the cheaper SE mannequin of the iPhone, seen as a technique to encourage extra frequent upgrades and presumably new AI featured, has been delayed and remains to be not deliberate on a particular date.
Apple got here into Thursday’s earnings report as essentially the most helpful firm on the earth, with a market cap of $3.6 trillion, although that rating is continually evolving. In contrast with a lot of its Huge Tech friends, Apple isn’t spending as a lot on AI infrastructure, although it has been emphasizing its Apple Intelligence functionality as a tool enhancement. Due to this comparatively asset-light technique, the corporate held up higher than some others when China’s DeepSeek made waves for its lower-cost developments in AI this month. CEO Tim Cook dinner stays bullish concerning the potential for the corporate’s nascent AI efforts.
“By the facility of Apple silicon, we’re unlocking new prospects for our customers with Apple Intelligence, which makes apps and experiences even higher and extra private,” Cook dinner stated within the firm’s earnings launch.
“Our document income and powerful working margins drove EPS to a brand new all-time document with double-digit development and allowed us to return over $30 billion to shareholders,” CFO Kevan Parekh stated. “We’re additionally happy that our put in base of energetic units has reached a brand new all-time excessive throughout all merchandise and geographic segments.”
