Apple has posted its best-ever revenue for the June quarter, with help from first-time buyers of Macs and iPads.

The iGiant on Thursday announced $85.8 billion of revenue for the period ending June 29 - up five percent year over year - and $21.45 billion net income. Services revenue - subscriptions to content, fitness trackers and cloud storage - reached a record $24.2 billion.

CEO Tim Cook pointed out that half of MacBook Air and iPad customers in the quarter were new to Apple. In China, Cook said a "majority" of Mac and iPad buyers were new customers. That's a win as it shows Apple can still attract previously untapped customers in the mostly settled laptop and tablet markets. Mac sales hit $7 billion - up two percent year-over-year. iPad revenue hit $7.2 billion, which was a 24 percent year-over-year jump, attributed to the debut of new models.

News from China wasn't all good. Handset sales dipped by six percent, costing Apple its status as the leading smartphone brand in the Middle Kingdom as a resurgent Huawei added more premium devices to its range and Beijing pondered a ban on iPhones in government workplaces.

Cook noted that the iPhone remains the top seller in China's urban markets. That's significant because city-dwelling Chinese people tend to have higher incomes.

"We continue to be confident in the long-term opportunity in China," Cook declared. "I don't know how every chapter of the book reads, but we're very confident in the long-term."

The CEO had the same sentiment for other markets. Noting that iPhone 15 sales have outperformed its predecessor, Cook cautioned it is too early to comment on whether that reflects an accelerated upgrade cycle. But he predicted the debut of AI service Apple Intelligence - which emerged in iOS betas this week - would give iPhone users a fine reason to consider an upgrade.

iPhone revenue, however, was a little off year-over-year ($39.3 vs $39.7 billion) and year to date ($155 vs $156.8 billion) - but Cook laid the blame on currency movements rather than waning enthusiasm. The CEO cited 98 percent customer satisfaction for the iPhone 15 range in North America as evidence all is well in Apple's handset business.

Cook defended a small dip in sales of wearables and accessories, observing that Apple just hasn't launched new smart watches or earbuds for a while so demand has dimmed. He also noted that the fruiterer's combined wearable, accessories, and home business has doubled in five years to reach $40 billion in annual sales. Clearly Cupertino is doing something right.

Apple's AI runs on a datacenter stack it designed and built around its own silicon. Cook was asked if doing so has required extra capital expenditure, but batted that away as nothing investors need to worry about - a contrast with other hyperscale operators that are currently making sure the market knows the tens of billions they're spending on hardware and datacenters will pay off before too long. ®

https://www.theregister.com//2024/08/02/apple_q3_2024/