Apple released its quarterly financial report for the year ended September on November 2nd, showing a 3% increase in iPhone sales compared to the same period last year. However, the company has given conservative expectations for fourth quarter performance. Affected by this, Apple's stock price plummeted by over 3% after hours.
In the quarter ended September 30th, Apple's sales were $89.5 billion, a decrease of 1% from the same period last year, marking the fourth consecutive quarter of decline in Apple's sales; But iPhone revenue increased by 3% compared to the same period last year, reaching $43.8 billion and setting a sales record for the September fiscal quarter.
Despite a slight decrease in sales, Apple's net profit in the third quarter increased by nearly 11% year-on-year to $23 billion, exceeding analysts' expectations. This is related to Apple increasing the average selling price of high-end products, including the iPhone.
Due to investors' concerns about intensified competition from Huawei, Apple's business in China has been closely monitored. In the third quarter, Apple's sales in the Chinese market, including Hong Kong and Taiwan, remained basically unchanged year-on-year, with revenue of $15.08 billion.
Apple CEO Cook stated that the early performance of iPhone 15 was stronger than that of iPhone 14 at this time last year. However, the release of the iPhone 15 series is only about a week away from the end of the September quarter, so the true demand for iPhone 15 will not be apparent until the next quarter's financial report. Apple's iPhone sales in the fourth quarter of last year were $65.78 billion.
Cook stated that due to strong demand, Apple's more expensive iPhone Pro and iPhone Pro Max series have encountered supply bottlenecks.
A reporter from First Financial inquired about the shipment status of the iPhone 15 Pro series on Apple's official website. Currently, the delivery time of the iPhone 15 ProMax is 2-3 weeks, which is significantly shorter than the delivery time of around 8 weeks when it was first launched.
Research firm Canalys analyst Zhu Jiatao told First Financial reporters, "We anticipate that Apple's iPhone may have a price reduction measure, or that channel promotion control may be reduced
He said that there was a shortage of iPhone channels at this time last year, but the hype in the channels has basically disappeared this year because Apple has very abundant stock.
Apple Chief Financial Officer Luca Maestri stated at the financial report conference that during the holiday season, Apple's sales are expected to be basically the same as this quarter. This means that investors should not have high expectations for Apple's revenue growth in the busiest quarter of the year.
Maastri also stated that product departments, including Mac and iPad, are facing difficulties compared to the same period last year. The department's revenue has decreased by 5% in the past quarter, with Mac revenue decreasing by nearly 34% year-on-year and iPad revenue decreasing by 10%.
At the end of last month, Apple held an unusual night event for its new MacBook Pro laptop and iMac desktop, and launched a new M3 series of self-developed chips. Although the sales of new devices were not included in this quarter, Apple stated that M3 chips may revive product sales.
In addition, Apple's device installation base, which is the number of iPhones, Macs, and iPads currently active in use, reached an all-time high this quarter, but the company did not provide specific numbers.