Apple has announced its financial results for quarter ended December 28, 2024. Quarterly revenue was up by 4% year over year at $124.3 billion. The bump in sales was welcome but there was some bad news with sales in China taking a hit. Product sales were up by about $1.4B, rising from $96.5B to $97.9B. But the big mover was the company’s services division which jumped from $23.1B to $26.3B
(Note that all amounts are us US dollars)
Apple CEO Tim Cook said “Today Apple is reporting our best quarter ever, with revenue of $124.3 billion, up 4 percent from a year ago. We were thrilled to bring customers our best-ever lineup of products and services during the holiday season”.
Kevan Parekh, Apple’s CFO, added “We are also pleased that our installed base of active devices has reached a new all-time high across all products and geographic segments.”
Looking a the company’s balance sheet, we can see that iPhone sales dipped when compared to the same period in 2023. The iPhone 16 range, which was sold on the back of Apple’s announcements around Apple Intelligence, did not buoy the company’s coffers. But that was offset by burgeoning sales of the Mac.
The new Mac mini, no doubt helped things along, following the release of M4-powered MacBook Pro. iPad sales were also up while Wearables, Home and Accessories were slightly down on the previous year. That’s not surprising as Apple didn’t ship a new Apple Watch Ultra last year, choosing to just give the previous year’s model a minor facelift by offering it in matt black. A new Apple Watch Ultra 3, expected later this year, will likely give that line item a boost as will an update of the AirPods range.
Apple doesn’t break Australia out as a separate sales region. Our region according Apple’s accountants, Rest of Asia Pacific, had a modest bump in sales from $10.1B to $10.2B.
With Nvidia’s market capitalisation taking a hit earlier this week following the release of the new Generative AI tool DeepSeek, Apple is once again the world’s most valuable company. But this year will provide some challenges to Apple. The new US government’s position on tariffs may result in Apple’s prices increasing. In a tight economy, we may see Apple’s overall sales take a hit.
Anthony is the founder of Australian Apple News. He is a long-time Apple user and former editor of Australian Macworld. He has contributed to many technology magazines and newspapers as well as appearing regularly on radio and occasionally on TV.