Apple has just announced their financial results for the last quarter of last year, which is also the first quarter for the 2022 fiscal year. The highlight of their announcement was that, despite all the supply chain trouble Cupertino reportedly had, they still managed to post an all-time revenue record of USD123.9 billion, which is 11% more than what they made the year before.
The strong showing during the last three months was likely thanks to the iPhone 13 lineup which launched in September 2021. It’s no coincidence that the last quarter was also the three months with the traditional holiday period in Western countries, while also covering popular shopping dates in China such as Singles Day on 11 November. Just yesterday for instance, market research firm Counterpoint Research revealed that Apple had the largest share of the Chinese smartphone market during the last quarter of 2021, up to 23% and leading the likes of Vivo, Oppo and Xiaomi. The Greater China region as a whole contributed USD25.8 billion in revenue for Apple, with a further USD29.7 billion from Europe and USD51.5 billion from the Americas.
“This quarter’s record results were made possible by our most innovative lineup of products and services ever. We are gratified to see the response from customers around the world at a time when staying connected has never been more important.
We are doing all we can to help build a better world — making progress toward our goal of becoming carbon neutral across our supply chain and products by 2030, and pushing forward with our work in education and racial equity and justice,” – Tim Cook, Apple CEO
Luca Maestri, Apple’s CFO, affirmed the notion of strong iPhone 13 sales, highlighting the customer response to their recent launch of products and services which drove the 11% growth in revenue. It’s certainly a good time to be an Apple shareholder too, as Maestri reveals that nearly USD27 billion is going back to their shareholders’ pockets over the quarter. Apple also continues to maintain their target of being in a net cash neutral position—basically to have an equal amount of cash and debt, balancing to zero—something they’ve actively targeted since 2018.
Once we take a step back and compare their 2021 against 2020 as a whole though, Apple’s continued rise becomes plain to see. For the calendar year of 2020, Cupertino generated USD294.1 billion in revenue, while that figure balloons to USD378.3 billion in 2021. That’s an increase of over 28% in just 12 months, even as supply chain issues arguably hit Apple worse in 2021 than 2020.
It wasn’t all down to the iPhone 13 though. Apple’s quarterly results announcement came with a mention for the iPhone and Mac as well as wearables and services, putting the spotlight on their other products as well. Curiously, there’s no mention for the iPad, and once you take a look at their financial statements it’s clear to see why. While net sales rose in every other category year on year, the iPad’s sales was down by 14%. This is likely down to a supply chain issues which plague not just Apple but their rivals too.
In fact, once you take a look at those numbers again, you’ll also see that Apple’s services have generated a good chunk of their revenue too, with a 23.8% increase this past quarter compared to the same quarter in 2020. It’s easy to forget about Apple’s services too as they’re predominantly known for their hardware, but with the likes of Apple TV+. iCloud+, Apple Music and Apple Arcade propping up their services lineup, it becomes easier to see how they’re making their revenue. They’re also constantly expanding its availability, with Apple Fitness+ becoming available in Malaysia just a few months ago. Then there’s the Apple One bundle too, which lets you subscribe to several of their services in just one package.
For more information on Apple’s quarterly reports and to check out their financial statements yourselves, you can head over to their latest post on their newsroom.
