Apple continues to grow thanks to services, Apple Watch and AirPods

The service business with streaming apps and subscriptions and so-called wearables like the Apple Watch computer watch and AirPods headphones were the deciding factors. Apple originally had forecast sales of up to $ 67 billion for the quarter. In summary, Apple posted a profit of $ 11.25 billion, close to $ 11.56 billion the year before.

For its most important product, the iPhone, Apple had to deal with supply chain turmoil and low demand, especially in China, in the last quarter due to the Corona outbreak. Sales in the iPhone business consequently fell 6.7 percent to just under $ 29 billion, as Apple announced after the US market closed on Thursday. CEO Tim Cook spoke of a “shock” for the supply chain. Revenue also fell on Mac computers and iPad tablets. For some time, Apple has not provided any information on the number of units sold.

According to market analysis firm Strategy Analytics’ calculations, iPhone sales fell nine percent to 39.2 million devices in the last quarter, while the entire smartphone market declined by 17 percent.

But Apple’s services business also grew more than 16 percent to $ 13.35 billion. At the Apple Watch and Airpods division, sales even rose a good 22 percent to around $ 6.3 billion. This shows that Cook’s course of expanding Apple’s business beyond the iPhone works.

Apple did not make sales forecasts for the current quarter. In the second half of April, the group saw increasing demand across the entire product range, Cook said in a conference call with analysts. Apple had released a new cheaper iPhone model and iPad Pro during the crisis. Cook expects the iPad and Mac businesses to grow year after year in the current quarter if people prepare to work from home. In general, he expects people to work more out of the office after the crisis and to increase interest in healthcare technologies.

Apple had reserves of $ 193 billion and debt of $ 110 billion at the end of the quarter. The group had loaned money over the years to finance, among other things, distributions to shareholders, as it was cheaper until the United States’ tax reform than bringing foreign profits home.

Apple also increased the quarterly dividend and provided an additional $ 50 billion for share buybacks. The stock price temporarily fell 2.55 percent in off-hours trading.

Apple provided and donated more than 30 million face masks and manufactured more than 7.5 million masks during the crisis, Cook said.