iPhone Sales Are Booming, With or Without Apple's Intelligence.
All of Apple's divisions reported an increase, except for wearable devices.
Throughout a week filled with news, which included the launch of the first features of Apple Intelligence and several new models of Mac, the company announced its financial results for the fourth quarter. This period encompassed the initial sales of the iPhone 16, allowing for an assessment of the acceptance of the brand's latest phones. Additionally, the Apple Watch Series 10 and AirPods 4 were launched during this quarter.
Tim Cook, Apple's CEO, mentioned that sales of the iPhone 15 were "stronger than those of the 14 in the same period last year, and the 16 outperformed the 15." The company reported revenues of $94.9 billion, representing a new record for the September quarter and a 6 percent increase compared to the previous year. However, this solid performance was affected by an extraordinary income tax charge of $10.2 billion that Apple had to pay to Ireland following a lengthy tax dispute. Almost all segments of Apple's business showed growth, with the exception of the "wearables, home and accessories" category. In contrast, iPad revenue increased by 8 percent thanks to the introduction of new iPad Pro and iPad Air models in the spring.
The initial capabilities of Apple Intelligence, powered by artificial intelligence, primarily focus on summarization, writing, and image cleanup tools. Integration with ChatGPT and the option to generate images will be available in iOS 18.2 in December. Cook also shared that "we are receiving positive feedback from customers and developers" and revealed that, in just three days of initial data, users are adopting iOS 18.1 at double the adoption rate of 17.1 during the same period last year.
This week, Apple unveiled updates for the iMac, Mac Mini, and MacBook Pro, all equipped with the latest M4 silicon. The Mac Mini experienced a significant redesign, now being more compact than ever. M4 editions of the MacBook Air, Mac Pro, and Mac Studio are rumored to arrive next year. Additionally, the iPad Mini was refreshed earlier this month. This new hardware lineup, along with the iPhone 16 series and wearables, could boost Apple's performance during the crucial holiday quarter.
In the backdrop of these events, an antitrust lawsuit filed against Apple by the U.S. Department of Justice remains pending, as well as guidelines from the European Union that have forced the company to make the iPhone more accessible to new applications and services by default.
