Apple returned to revenue growth during its most recent critical holiday quarter. The total it took in during the December period went up 2% — that’s after the company experienced declining revenue in each of the four previous quarters.
“Today Apple is reporting revenue growth for the December quarter fueled by iPhone sales, and an all-time revenue record in Services,” said Apple CEO Tim Cook in a press release Thursday announcing Apple’s fiscal first-quarter results.
Apple beats Wall Street — again
The Mac-maker exceeded analysts’ expectations. The consensus prediction for revenue in the December quarter was about $118 billion, but the actual total was $119.6 billion.
And the analyst consensus for Apple earnings was $2.10 per share, while the company actually raked in $2.18, up 16% year over year.
As Cook noted, much of the revenue growth in the December 2023 quarter came iPhone. Money from this product category went up 6% over the same quarter of 2022. And revenue from services like the App Store and Apple Music grew 11% year over year. The Mac brought in 1% more revenue thanks to new models powered by the M3 processor. However, iPad sales tanked after a year without any fresh tablet releases.
While total revenue was good, money coming from China fell 13%. That’s a closely watched segment of Apple’s business, and the drop seems to have pushed Apple’s share price down more than 3% in after-hours trading.
Chart: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac
More to crow about
“We are pleased to announce that our installed base of active devices has now surpassed 2.2 billion, reaching an all-time high across all products and geographic segments,” Cook said.
Source: Apple
