Apple reports stronger than expected iPhone sales during the fiscal fourth quarter
Apple reported its fiscal fourth-quarter earnings today, and with some devices Apple beat Wall Street expectations. At $46.22 billion, iPhone revenue for the fiscal fourth quarter was up 6% year-over-year and also topped Wall Street expectations of $45.47 billion. On CNBC, Apple CEO Tim Cook said that iPhone 15 sales during the fiscal fourth quarter were "stronger than 14 in the year-ago quarter, and 16 was stronger than 15." For all of fiscal 2024, Apple generated $201.18 billion in revenue from the iPhone which was a puny .2% annual gain.
The tech giant failed to meet estimated fiscal fourth quarter revenue for the iPad of $7.09 billion. Instead, Apple collected $6.95 billion in revenue for its tablets which was still up a solid 7.9% year-over-year. For the entire fiscal year, iPad sales amounted to $26.69 billion which was off 6% from fiscal 2023. After not releasing any tablets in fiscal 2023, fiscal 2024 saw the release of two M4-powered OLED iPad Pro models, two new iPad Air units including a new 11-inch model, and the iPad mini (A17 Pro) with a newer chipset and support for Apple Intelligence.
The Wearables, Home and Accessories category, which includes AirPods and the Apple Watch, took in $9.04 billion in gross during fiscal Q4. That was down from the $9.32 billion the segment reported in revenue for the same quarter last year. The unit grossed $37.01 billion for all of fiscal 2024 which was down from the $39.85 billion in revenue it had last year.
The Services group continued to be strong although it failed to beat estimates of $25.28 billion. The actual fiscal fourth quarter revenue number was $24.97 billion topping last year's top-line of $22.31 billion. During all of fiscal 2024, the Services unit, which includes Apple Pay, Apple TV+, the App Store, Apple Music, and more, generated $96.17 billion in revenue.
"Today Apple is reporting a new September quarter revenue record of $94.9 billion, up 6 percent from a year ago. During the quarter, we were excited to announce our best products yet, with the all-new iPhone 16 lineup, Apple Watch Series 10, AirPods 4, and remarkable features for hearing health and sleep apnea detection. And this week, we released our first set of features for Apple Intelligence, which sets a new standard for privacy in AI and supercharges our lineup heading into the holiday season."-Tim Cook, CEO, Apple
Sales rose in all regions year-over-year during the fiscal fourth quarter except for Greater China. The same pattern repeated itself during the entire fiscal year. Sales in the Americas rose 3.8% during the fiscal fourth quarter and 2.7% in fiscal 2024. European sales gained 11% year-over-year during the fiscal fourth quarter and 7.46% during the complete fiscal year of 2024. Sales in Greater China were slightly lower year-over-year for the quarter and fell 7.73% for fiscal 2024.
Overall company revenue of $94.93 billion for fiscal Q4 topped estimates of $94.58 billion and were up 6% year-over-year for the quarter. For the entire year, Apple had gross of $294.97 billion which was off from fiscal 2023's $298.09 billion. Net income declined on a quarterly basis from last year's $22.96 billion for the 2023 fiscal fourth quarter to the $14.74 billion reported for this year's fiscal fourth quarter. For the year, net reached $93.74 for all of fiscal 2024 from fiscal 2023's $97 billion.
Earnings per share (EPS) for the fiscal fourth quarter fell to 97 cents from $1.47 during Q4 last year. For all of fiscal 2024, EPS came in at $6.11 versus $6.16 for fiscal 2023.
Despite what appears to be a positive fourth quarter and fiscal year, Apple's shares dropped $3.93 or 1.74% to $221.98 in after-hours trading following the release of the report.
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