Apple Continues to Surprise with Its Results
The Cupertino-based company reported another great quarter on Wednesday, announcing company-wide sales up 54% higher than in 2020. The company’s stocks gained more than 4% at one point in extended trading. Apple reported double-digit growth in every single one of its product categories and the iPhone was up 65.5% from 2020. Its Mac as well as iPad sales reached even better results, with its computers up 70.1% and iPad sales growing nearly 70% on an annual basis.
The company said it would increase its dividend by 7% to $0.22 per share and it also authorized $90 billion in share buybacks.
Apple did not issue official guidance for what the company expects in the quarter ending in June. It has not provided revenue guidance since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, due to uncertainty. For the second quarter in a row the company reported double-digit growth in all product categories. The tech giant expects June quarter revenue to increase by double digits year-over-year. Apple has to deal with some supply shortages due to the worldwide chip shortage.
The coronavirus pandemic helped to boost its business as consumers and businesses bought more computers. Nonetheless, its strong results in the quarter suggest that the trend may persist as more economies open up.
Apple and its products
In spite of the coronavirus pandemic, Apple continues to surprise with great results. For instance, Mac sales were up 70% thanks to new iMac laptops that use M1 chips, which offer longer battery life.
The company’s iPhone also reported strong results in the quarter, despite fears that the current annual cycle could slow down. In 2020, the company released iPhones with a new exterior design as well as 5G support. Many investors believed that new iPhones could prompt a major upgrade cycle, which this quarter’s results indicate.
In greater China, the tech giant’s revenue rose by more than 87% year-over-year to $17.73 billion. During the same quarter in 2020, the pandemic forced the country’s government to take tough decisions. So, it is not the best idea to compare those two quarters.
The revenue increased not only in greater China but in Europe and other parts of the world. Apple’s high-margin services business, including iCloud, App Store, subscriptions like Apple Music, also reached good results. At the moment, the company has more than 660 million paid subscriptions across the services on the platform. That means the company was able to add 40 million paid subscriptions in one quarter.
