Apple could announce another record-breaking quarter on April 28

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Apple leases new offices near to Apple Park
Apple just finished its first financial quarter of 2021, and we’ll soon find out how it did.
Photo: Duncan Sinfield

Apple will announce the financial results of its winter quarter on April 28. So far, people forced to work and learn from home have been very good for the Mac-maker’s bottom line. We’ll soon see if that carried through to the beginning of 2021.

On Thursday, the company’s investor relations page was updated to say, “Apple’s conference call to discuss second fiscal quarter results is scheduled for Wednesday, April 28, 2021 at 2:00 p.m. PT / 5:00 p.m. ET.”

Apple’s financial quarters aren‘t numbered the same as calendar quarters. To it, the January-through-March period was Q2 2021.

Apple is on a financial roll

The COVID-19 pandemic forced many people into lockdown over the past year, and they’ve depending on computers to keep them in touch with the world. That’s lead to strong sales of Mac and iPad. During the earnings call in January to total up Apple’s financial results from the holiday shopping season, Chief Financial Officer Luca Maestri said “all-time record” so often he started to sound like a broken record.

But over the course of the pandemic so far, much of the gain was in revenue. COVID-19 also cost the company quite a bit. To the point where year-over-year profits were down as often as they were up. To be clear, Apple has stayed profitable — very profitable — but not always as profitable as it was in 2019.

And we’re starting to see the light at the end of the COVID-19 tunnel. Vaccinations became widely available in the first three months of 2021. Many children are back in school. Adults are talking about returning to the office. All this could reduce the need for computers at home. And the success of 2020 might weigh on 2021 —  the millions of people who rushed to buy a Mac and/or iPad at the beginning of the pandemic might not need another one for a long time.

But there are some hopeful signs for investors watching Apple’s bottom line. A new report indicates spending on apps reached a record high in the first quarter of 2021.

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