Apple reported stronger-than-expected results on Thursday, with demand for its iPhones remaining strong despite economic fears and logistical challenges ultimately less than feared.
The computer giant certainly saw its net profit fall 11% to $19.4 billion. But the latter exceeded analysts’ expectations, as well as turnover (83,000 million, 2% more).
Apple’s stock rose steadily by more than 3% in electronic trading on Wall Street.
iPhone sales hold up
The company sold $40.7 billion worth of smartphones in the third quarter of its lagging fiscal year (April to June), which is slightly more than the same period last year.
Some analysts feared the environmental economic slowdown would hurt demand for Apple-branded products, which are usually quite expensive.
But the effects were “contrasting,” Apple boss Tim Cook said in a conference call.
On iPhone sales, there was “no clear evidence” of an impact from economic difficulties. On the Mac and iPad computers, production was slowed down too much by logistical constraints for the group to “test demand.” By contrast, advertising revenue was “clearly affected,” he said.
Outages “less significant than expected”
Apple’s services business, in which the App Store and iCloud stand out, as a whole has maintained solid growth (12%).
Sales of Mac computers fell 10%, as did iPad tablets (-2%) and connected objects and clothing (-8%).
The group had warned in April that the disruption caused by a resurgence of Covid-19 cases in China and a shortage of silicone needed to make chips could deprive it of a turnover of between $4 billion and $8 billion.
Ultimately, the riots “were less significant than expected,” said Tim Cook.
Revenue growth, also affected by currency effects and the suspension of sales in Russia, still slowed to its slowest pace since the quarter ending September 2020.
By geography, Apple saw revenue grow in North America and Europe, but decline in Greater China (which includes Hong Kong and Taiwan) and Japan.
For the current quarter, the group expects its turnover to regain momentum, despite a negative impact from currency effects of around 6%, Chief Financial Officer Luca Maestri said during the conference call.
Logistical restrictions on the production of smartphones, computers and tablets should be less significant than in the previous quarter. The demand for the group’s services, on the other hand, should slow down a bit “due to macroeconomic factors and exchange rate effects,” the executive stressed.
Source: BFM TV
