Apple displayed Olympic form in the first quarter of its 2020 fiscal year. It recorded record sales and profit thanks to sales of the iPhone, but also of its connected accessories, such as the Airpods headphones and the Apple Watch. .
The epidemic of viral pneumonia hitting China – a key market for Apple and a major production site – has somewhat tempered the very optimistic tone and Tim Cook, the boss of the company, took the time to detail the measures taken to counteract the impact of this serious health crisis.
But he nevertheless exulted in the press release of the quarterly results: “We are delighted to publish the highest quarterly turnover in the history of Apple, thanks to strong demand for our iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 pro, and a historic record for services and ‘wearables’ “.
Apple includes portable connected accessories in this category, such as the Apple Watch, or the Airpods and Airpods pro Bluetooth headphones.
Merry christmas apple
Three-quarters of people who bought an Apple Watch in the past quarter have done so for the first time, said Tim Cook to demonstrate the growing enthusiasm for this accessory.
The first quarter of Apple covers the holiday season in the Western world, conducive to purchases of the apple brand. In fact, customers have spent countless hours on iPhone and Airpods for Christmas, the boss said.
The company’s turnover increased by 9% compared to the same period of the previous year, to 91.8 billion, with record sales in France, the United States, the United Kingdom and even in Poland and Spain.
Analysts expected 88.5 billion, according to estimates from Factset. Net profit stood at $ 22.2 billion, nearly $ 300 million more than in the first three months of fiscal 2019. “A historic record”, again, said Luca Maestri , Apple’s chief financial officer.
In terms of earnings per share, investors were also surprised, at $ 4.99 per share, against 4.55 expected. Already up 2.85% in official session, the title still gained 1.9% in electronic exchanges after the close.
Rough competition
Revenue from iPhone sales increased 8% to almost $ 56 billion. In particular thanks to the latest model, which is also the most expensive.
Services (like App Store or Apple Music) and “wearables” earned a turnover of 10 billion respectively (against 7.3 a year earlier) and 12.7 billion dollars (+ 17%).
As for the youngest, Apple TV +, the video streaming service launched in November, Tim Cook welcomed “a start with a fanfare” and stressed that the brand would measure success by the number of subscribers.
Apple has done everything for this, especially with promotions offering a year of free subscription and a subscription of less than 5 dollars per month. The competition has become very fierce, since in addition to Netflix, the sector giant, and Amazon, Disney has come to engage in the battle with Disney + and HBO will launch its service in the spring.
The unknown coronavirus
After a leaner time, China has been a very lucrative market for Apple, with double-digit growth for the iPhone, services and wearables, said Cook, with very high percentages of new clients for Mac computers or iPad tablets. But the coronavirus is likely to spoil the party.
“Our thoughts go above all to those affected throughout the region,” said Tim Cook during the conference call with analysts, indicating that the company had donated to teams fighting the virus and that it had limited travel for its employees.
“The situation is still emerging and we are still collecting data and we are monitoring this very closely,” said Cook. He said Apple had subcontractors in the Wuhan area, the epicenter of the epidemic, but had alternative suppliers.
For production chains outside of this region, “the situation is less clear,” he said, indicating that the reopening of factories had been postponed to February 10, well after the end of the Chinese New Year celebrations. .
To take into account these uncertainties, Apple has given a forecast of turnover for its second quarter wider than usual, between 63 and 67 billion dollars.
