Apple revenue hit a record $123.9 billion in Q4, beating expectations and the chip shortage

[midian182]

In a nutshell: We all know about the disruption the tech industry has endured in the face of the chip shortage and pandemic, but Apple managed to weather the storm and saw a record-breaking holiday quarter that beat analysts’ expectations.

For its first-quarter earnings of 2022, which covers last October to December for Apple, quarterly revenue jumped 11% year-on-year to an all-time high of $123.9 billion, smashing analysts’ average estimate of $118.7 billion. Net income reached $34.63 billion as gross margins increased around 43.8%, while sales in China grew 20%.

It’s especially good news for Apple after CEO Tim Cook said during its previous financial results announcement that supply constraints stemming from the chip shortage had cost the company an estimated $6 billion. There were also reports that Apple had cut its iPhone 13 production target to 80 million units, 10 million fewer than initially planned, a result of Broadcom and Texas Instruments being unable to supply components due to the chip shortage.

Looking at individual segments, iPhone revenue was up to $71.6 billion from $65.6 billion a year earlier, while Mac revenue jumped $2 billion year-on-year to reach a record $10.9 billion. Chief financial officer Luca Maestri said most of the sales came from M1-powered devices, a result of a "record number of upgraders."

Revenue from the services unit, which includes Apple Pay, the App Store, and Apple TV, was up more than 23% to $19.5 billion, while "Wearables, Home and Accessories," the category containing the Apple Watch, AirPods, and HomePod, hit a record $14.7 billion.

"The very strong customer response to our recent launch of new products and services drove double-digit growth in revenue and earnings, and helped set an all-time high for our installed base of active devices," added Maestri, who believes supply constraints will ease at the end of the current quarter (Jan – Mar).

"The level of constraint will depend a lot on other companies, what will be the demand for chips from other companies and other industries. It's difficult for us to predict, so we try to focus on the short term," he said.

The only Apple product to really feel the impact of the chip shortage was the iPad. Sales of the tablet were down 14% to $7.2 billion during the quarter.

“Despite the uncertainty of the world, there is one thing of which I am certain: Apple will continue to improve every day and in every way to deliver on the promise of technology at its best,” Cook said, adding that Apple now boasts 1.8 billion active devices.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/93168-apple-revenue-hit-record-1239-billion-q4-beating.html

 

[Dimitriid]

Actually by switching all of their PC business also to TSMC as well I would argue that they're actually *responsible* for the chip shortage at least in part: We know about their sweetheart deal with them so while shortages were perhaps inevitable (And perhaps not that much: I maintain there's some very clear indications of price fixing for all semiconductor businesses) the situation was definitively exacerbated by Apple devouring most of that allocation not just for phones but now for everything they do with the M1.

 

[Squid Surprise]

Actually by switching all of their PC business also to TSMC as well I would argue that they're actually *responsible* for the chip shortage at least in part: We know about their sweetheart deal with them so while shortages were perhaps inevitable (And perhaps not that much: I maintain there's some very clear indications of price fixing for all semiconductor businesses) the situation was definitively exacerbated by Apple devouring most of that allocation not just for phones but now for everything they do with the M1.

Who else was going to be using those fabs? Very few other companies are fabricating anything on those nodes... certainly not Nvidia, Intel or AMD...

 

[QuantumPhysics]

For long term money growth and dividends, Apple has served me very well since 2008. Even when they're down - I'm up.

 

[Greggs]

Actually by switching all of their PC business also to TSMC as well I would argue that they're actually *responsible* for the chip shortage at least in part: We know about their sweetheart deal with them so while shortages were perhaps inevitable (And perhaps not that much: I maintain there's some very clear indications of price fixing for all semiconductor businesses) the situation was definitively exacerbated by Apple devouring most of that allocation not just for phones but now for everything they do with the M1.

Isn't the M1 built on an advanced process node? As I understand it most shortages are on lower cost older process semiconductors, though such shortages can cause disruption for high price items (I.e. you have the CPU but missing power management, wireless, etc. chips)

 

[Dimitriid]

Isn't the M1 built on an advanced process node? As I understand it most shortages are on lower cost older process semiconductors, though such shortages can cause disruption for high price items (I.e. you have the CPU but missing power management, wireless, etc. chips)

That's just the continued shortage now but the first and longest part of it were those advanced process nodes too.

 

[yeeeeman]

Chip shortage my a$$