Apple Inc.’s latest sales and profit surpassed the market forecasts as the costly global chip shortage eases.
The iPhone maker’s total net revenue posted an annual increase of 11.00% to $123.90 billion, above the consensus of $118.66 billion.
Accordingly, Apple beat analysts’ average estimates for sales in every product category except for iPads.
Its iPhone revenue increased 9.00% year-over-year to $71.63 billion, higher than the projected $68.34 billion.
This report reflected the first full quarter of iPhone 13 sales, flagging the competitiveness of the device in the market.
At the same time, its services, including iCloud, Apple Music, and App Store fees, generated a 24.00% gain to $19.52 billion.
It is the most profitable business unit, outpacing the $18.61 billion estimate.
Then, other products category, including Apple Watch and AirPods, elevated by 13.00% to $14.70 billion, surpassing the forecast of $14.59 billion.
Likewise, Mac revenue grew 25.00% to $10.85 billion, posting the most robust growth in the firm’s hardware lines. It also edged up from the anticipated $9.52 billion.
Conversely, iPad revenue declined 14.00% to $7.25 billion, lower than the expected $8.18 billion.
The drop was likely because Apple prioritized the production of other devices due to significant supply constraints.
Nevertheless, the latest earnings report showed strong growth, mainly benefiting from holiday sales.
Apple CEO Says Supply Chain Improves
Apple CEO Tim Cook noted that its supply issues notably eased from its September quarter.
In line with this, he expected the current quarter to improve supply challenges.
Meanwhile, Cook also mentioned that the firm also faces inflationary pressure. He further expanded on how inflation affected Apple’s business, citing the surging shipping costs.
He hoped that the rising costs would be transitory, ruling out the possibility of price increases in its products.
Still, the company stands as the most valuable company by market cap, holding $2.60 trillion.
Then, the upbeat earnings results sent the company’s stock price 5.04% or 8.03 points higher to $167.25 per share.
