The American giant’s iPhone sales are up slightly over the year, boosting the profits of the Apple brand.
Apple substantially exceeded market expectations with nearly $95 billion in sales for the period from January to March, of which the Californian group generated $24 billion in net profit, in a context of global economic slowdown.
In 2022, over the same period, the group had achieved a turnover of 97.2 billion dollars, with a net profit of 25 billion dollars.
iPhone sales up slightly
Sales of its flagship iPhone, up slightly year-on-year to $51.33 billion, according to an earnings release on Thursday, also beat forecasts as demand for the devices fell sharply electronics because of inflation.
Its services business also grew a little year on year, to nearly $ 21 billion for the second quarter of its staggered fiscal year, January-March.
“We are pleased to have achieved an all-time high in Services and a second-quarter record for iPhone despite the challenging economic environment. Our active device base is at an all-time high,” said Tim. Cook, Apple’s boss, quoted in the press release.
The Cupertino (Silicon Valley) group’s revenues fell year on year, but the market expected worse. Because the demand for electronic devices, which had exploded during the pandemic and its confinements, has fallen in recent months in the face of inflation.
In the second half of 2022, sales of mobile phones worldwide fell to their lowest level since 2014, according to Canalys.
Computer sales crash
But “the popularity of the professional range of iPhones is helping Apple to expand its market share, despite the constraints on demand,” said Canalys analyst Le Xuan Chiew at the end of January.
“And unexpected difficulties on the supply side for these models have led Apple to accelerate its diversification to mitigate the impact of this issue,” he added.
Personal computer sales also slumped at the start of the year, falling to a level below pre-pandemic levels, due to “weak” demand, “excess” inventory and a macroeconomic climate. which “worsens”, according to the firm IDC.
Apple’s Macs were not spared: they generated $7.2 billion in revenue during the past quarter, compared to $10.4 billion in the same period last year.
The company’s chief financial officer, Luca Maestri, said the board had decided on a $90 billion share buyback plan.
