Apple Hits Record $123.9B In Sales Despite Supply Constraints

‘This is our eighth quarter reporting results in the shadow of the pandemic. And while I can’t say it gets any easier, I can say I’m incredibly proud of the way our teams have come together and continue to innovate on behalf of our customers,’ says Apple CEO Tim Cook.

Record first fiscal quarter 2022 sales growth across Apple’s entire product line, with one major exception, set the stage for the company to reach an all-time revenue record of nearly $124 billion and cement the tech giant as a leader in device sales worldwide.

It was a quarter of strength for Apple, despite supply constraints and the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, said Apple CEO Tim Cook Thursday in prepared remarks for the company’s first fiscal quarter 2022 financial analyst conference call.

“We are pleased to see that our active installed base of devices is now at a new record with more than 1.8 billion devices,” Cook said. “We set all time records for both developed and emerging markets, and saw revenue growth across all of our product categories, except for iPad, which we said would be supply constrained. As expected in the aggregate, we experienced supply constraints that were higher than the September quarter.”

Apple stock rose 5 percent to $167.38 in after-hours trading Thursday.

[Related: Apple’s Market Value Hits Historic $3 Trillion Mark]

Cook acknowledged the toll that COVID continues to have on communities worldwide, with higher case counts and more strained health systems than at any point throughout the pandemic.

“This is our eighth quarter reporting results in the shadow of the pandemic,” he said. “And while I can’t say it gets any easier, I can say I’m incredibly proud of the way our teams have come together and continue to innovate on behalf of our customers.”

Apple innovations in the 15 years since the company first unveiled its iPhone line continue unabated, Cooke said. And that innovation is reflected across the company’s entire product line, he said.

“People expect Apple to solve hard problems with easy to use products,” he said. “And iPhone has never been more popular. During the December quarter, we set an all time revenue record for iPhone, thanks to the strength of our incredible iPhone 13 lineup. ... We also set another all time revenue record for Mac, with customers eager to get their hands on an M1-powered MacBook Air, iMac, or MacBook Pro. We‘ve been thrilled with a response from pro users to the M1 Pro and M1 Max chips, and to see how Apple silicon is blowing them away with its power, performance, and efficiency.”

However, supply constraints led to a drop in sales of Apple’s iPad lineup, he said.

The Apple App Store also set new revenue records in fiscal 2022, and the company has paid developers selling digital goods and services more than $260 billion since its launch, Cook said.

“Despite the pandemic, our retail businesses saw its highest revenue in Apple‘s history,” he said. “And we also earned our highest ever customer satisfaction scores. That is a testament to the incredible adaptability our teams have shown as we’ve reimagined the retail experience.”

Luca Maestri, Apple’s chief financial officer, said during his prepared remarks that Apple Business Essentials, introduced in November as a new service bringing together device management, 24/7 Apple Support, and iCloud storage into flexible subscription plans for small businesses with up to 500 employees, is already in beta use by many thousands of small business customers.

For Apple’s first fiscal quarter 2022, which ended December 25, the company reported total revenue of $123.95 billion, up 11.2 percent over the $111.44 billion the company reported for its first fiscal quarter 2021.

This included product revenue of $104.43 billion, up 9.1 percent, and services revenue of $19.52 billion, up 23.9 percent.

On the product side, Apple sold $71.63 billion worth of iPhones, up 9.2 percent; $10.85 billion work of Mac PCs, up 25 percent; iPads worth $7.25 billion, down 14.1 percent; and wearables and accessories worth $14.70 billion, up 13.3 percent.

Net income reported for the quarter on a GAAP basis was $34.63 billion, or $2.11 per share, up from last year’s $28.76 billion, or $1.70 per share.

Looking forward, Maestri said that near-term uncertainties means that Apple will not be providing revenue guidance.

However, he said, assuming the COVID-19 pandemic does not worsen, Apple expects solid revenue growth in fiscal year 2022, with the current quarter expected to reach new records. However, he said, revenue growth will not be as high as it was in fiscal 2021 given that recent growth rates have been record-breaking for the company.