The first three months of 2021 brought a flood of revenue for Apple, up 54% from last year. And profits, too. The company had a successful quarter all around, with double-digit growth in iPhone, Mac, iPad, wearables and services revenue.
A shining star in the results was iPhone revenue, which increased by a whopping 65%. But other product categories increased by even higher percentages.
A result of all the money pouring in is hefty profits. Apple’s profit during the January-through-December period was $23.6 billion, up from $11.2 in the same quarter of 2020. That’s a 110% increase.
A statement from Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO, reflects the difficulties the world and Apple have undergone during the COVID-19 pandemic. “This quarter reflects both the enduring ways our products have helped our users meet this moment in their own lives, as well as the optimism consumers seem to feel about better days ahead for all of us,” said
Apple steamroller keeps rolling along
Apple’s enormously successful quarter didn’t catch anyone by surprise. The company navigated the pandemic far better than many others, and has announced a succession of record-breaking quarters over the last year. During the October-through-December holiday shopping season, Apple revenue hit $111.4 billion, the first time the Mac-maker cleared the $100 billion mark.
A big driver of revenue has people forced to work or learn from home who purchased Macs or iPads. The trend continued in the January-through-March period.
Mac revenue was up an amazing 70% year over year to a total of $9.1 billion. That figure was surely increased by the release of the first M1-powered Macs in late 2020.
Chart: Cult of Mac
Although on the calendar this was the first three months of the year, it was the Apple Q2 2021 financial quarter. (Just look at the red bars.)
Plenty of iPads sold in that period, too. Apple reports that tablet revenue increased 79% when compared to the same quarter of 2020. The tablet total was $7.8 billion. CEO Tim Cook said that was the “highest March-quarter revenue in nearly a decade,” during a conference call with investors after the results were announced.
Chart: Cult of Mac
iPhone revenue grew as well, but for a different reason. Plenty of people held onto their handsets waiting for Apple to make one with 5G. They got their wish with the iPhone 12 series. The result is an 65% annual increase in revenue for this product for a total of $47.9 billion.
Chart: Cult of Mac
The little company from Cupertino also pulled in more money from Apple Watch and AirPods, with wearables revenue up 24% year over year to $7.8 billion. And services — the App Store, Apple Music, Apple TV+, etc. — increased by 27% to $16.9 billion.
And now, the financial results in Apple’s own words…
Apple Reports Second Quarter Results
Revenue up 54 percent to new March quarter record
Services and Mac revenue reach new all-time high
CUPERTINO, CALIFORNIA APRIL 28, 2021 Apple today announced financial results for its fiscal 2021 second quarter ended March 27, 2021. The Company posted a March quarter record revenue of $89.6 billion, up 54 percent year over year, and quarterly earnings per diluted share of $1.40. International sales accounted for 67 percent of the quarter’s revenue.
“This quarter reflects both the enduring ways our products have helped our users meet this moment in their own lives, as well as the optimism consumers seem to feel about better days ahead for all of us,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “Apple is in a period of sweeping innovation across our product lineup, and we’re keeping focus on how we can help our teams and the communities where we work emerge from this pandemic into a better world. That certainly begins with products like the all-new iMac and iPad Pro, but it extends to efforts like the 8 gigawatts of new clean energy we’ll help bring onto the grid and our $430 billion investment in the United States over the next 5 years.”
“We are proud of our March quarter performance, which included revenue records in each of our geographic segments and strong double-digit growth in each of our product categories, driving our installed base of active devices to an all-time high,” said Luca Maestri, Apple’s CFO. “These results allowed us to generate operating cash flow of $24 billion and return nearly $23 billion to shareholders during the quarter. We are confident in our future and continue to make significant investments to support our long-term plans and enrich our customers’ lives.”
Apple’s board of directors has declared a cash dividend of $0.22 per share of the Company’s common stock, an increase of 7 percent. The dividend is payable on May 13, 2021 to shareholders of record as of the close of business on May 10, 2021. The board of directors has also authorized an increase of $90 billion to the existing share repurchase program.
Source: Apple
