Apple CEO Tim Cook.
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Apple releases earnings quarterly.On calls with investors, CEO Tim Cook addresses Apple’s results and trajectory.The Q4 2023 call was dominated by questions about Apple’s future in China.
Apple, the tech powerhouse behind the iPhone, iPad, Mac, and more, and services like Apple TV+, Apple Music, and the App Store, releases its earnings quarterly.
Tim Cook, the Apple CEO, joins the calls to reflect on the results and discuss the company’s future trajectory.
Here’s a breakdown of Apple’s recent earnings.
Apple Q4 earnings 2023
Apple held its earnings call for its fiscal Q4, which ended September 30, 2023, on November 2, 2023.
On the call, Apple CEO Tim Cook reported that though Apple’s overall revenue declined for a fourth consecutive quarter, revenue from the iPhone increased.
Services revenue, including the App Store, Apple Pay, Apple TV, iCloud, and more, hit its highest point ever for another consecutive quarter.
Questions about the company’s future in China dominated the discussion about Q4 earnings. Cook stated his optimism about Apple’s prospects in China and emphasized the importance of the market to the company.
Apple’s Q4 revenue in China failed to meet Wall Street expectations, though it still reached over $15 billion.
Geopolitical tensions between the US and China are complicating Apple’s market there. The Chinese government is currently investigating tax practices and land use at Foxconn, a critical supplier for Apple, and government workers are reportedly banned from using iPhones.
Apple Q3 earnings
Apple held its earnings call for its fiscal Q3, which ended on July 1, on August 3, 2023.
The quarterly revenue was $81.8 billion, a decrease of 1% year over year. The company hit a record high in services revenue, which included over 1 billion paid subscriptions.
Apple Q2 earnings
Apple held its earnings call for its fiscal Q2, which ended April 1, on May 4, 2023.
Total revenue was down 3% year over year, but the company hit a record high for services revenue and a record for iPhone revenue in Q2.
In a conversation with CNBC about the company’s Q2 earnings, Cook addressed the mass layoffs across big tech companies and called similar cuts at Apple “a last resort.”
Alphabet, Amazon, Meta, Microsoft, Salesforce, and Twitter laid off over 80,000 employees in late 2022 and early 2023.
A Business Insider analysis of Apple’s revenue per employee — a metric that can demonstrate efficiency and productivity — revealed how the tech giant was able to avoid the mass layoffs plaguing the rest of the industry.
First, Apple hired far fewer employees than the other big tech companies: Its number of employees increased just 24.2% between 2018 and 2022. By comparison, Meta’s employee count increased by 143%, Amazon’s by 138%, and Salesforce’s by 120.6%.
During that same period, Apple’s revenue per employee increased 19.5%, while Twitter’s decreased 18.2%, Meta’s decreased 14%, and Amazon’s decreased 6.9%. All of these companies cut many jobs in 2022-2023.
Apple earnings history
In fiscal Q1 2023, which ended December 31, 2022, Apple reported quarterly revenue of $117.2 billion, a decrease of 5% year over year.
The prior quarter, Q4 2022, Apple hit a record revenue for the September quarter, $90.1 billion, an 8% increase year over year. The fiscal year was a record-breaker for Apple in general, with $28 billion in revenue growth and operating cash flow increasing $18 billion year over year.
Apple currently pays a dividend of $0.24 per share.