Last night Apple announced its results for the fourth operating quarter of its 2013 financial year, which ended on the 28th of September, 2013.
The headline numbers are: $37.5-billion in revenue and profit of $7.5-billion, vs $36-billion revenue and $8.2-billion profit in the same quarter, last year. Higher iPhone sales were the clear contributor to the increase in revenue, even though the iPhone 5S and 5C were only on sale for 8 days before the quarter ended.
Apple says it sold a record 33.8-million iPhones in the last quarter, compared to 26.9-million phones the year before. That comes after the company reported sales of 9-million phones at launch, for the most recent addition to the iPhone stable. iPad sales barely rose compared to last year’s 4th quarter: 14.1-million iPads compared to 14-million for 2012. That was to be expected, given that many were holding out for the announcement of newer iPads – something that happened a whole month after the quarter ended. This does mean that the 1st quarter of 2014, which ends in December this year, should be stellar.
Mac sales declined, though. In last year’s 4th quarter Apple moved 4.9-million desktops and laptops, but this time around it only shifted 4.6-million. Whether the revised Macbook Pros and new Mac Pro will help revive flagging interest in desktop dinosaurs remains to be seen; it’s not that the hardware is bad, but rather that the market’s needs are shifting. Regular computers are also replaced less often, and people aren’t as eager to spend and unsubsidised $1 000 to $2 500 (Between R10 000 and R25 000) on a new computer when a smartphone or tablet can be had for less.
All in all, Apple’s last financial quarter of 2013 was coasting on light refreshes to existing hardware, and didn’t fully benefit from any of the new products. There are exciting products for everybody to buy this festive season, and Tim Cook agrees.
“We’re excited to go into the holidays with our new iPhone 5c and iPhone 5s, iOS 7, the new iPad mini with Retina Display and the incredibly thin and light iPad Air, new MacBook Pros, the radical new Mac Pro, OS X Mavericks and the next generation iWork and iLife apps for OS X and iOS,” he says.
And notable only by its absence is the product that helped bring Apple back to prominence 12 years ago: the humble iPod.
