After a weak year in 2016, Apple’s first quarter of 2017 was a good one. Analysts have claimed, however, that this will see a regression in the next few months due to a decrease in brand value. As it stands, the company have recently been surpassed by Google and sales of devices such as the Apple Watch and Apple TV are down by as much as 7.5 per cent.
It was no surprise that sales of the iPhone 7 rocketed, largely thanks to the phone’s biggest competitor, the Samsung Galaxy S7 literally going up in flames. Mac sales and services did well, too. In Q1, Apple made $17.9 billion in profit and $78.4 billion in revenue compared to last year’s Q1 figures of $18.4 billion profit and $75.87 billion revenue. Both of these outcomes beat the company’s predicted results for the quarter which hoped for a profit margin of up to 38 per cent. In comparison with 2016, second quarter predictions for this year are ambitious, with the company aiming for a profit somewhere between $51.5 and $53.5 billion. Last year’s figure for Q2 stands at $50.6 billion which was a disappointing quarter when stood alongside $58 billion made in 2015.
When breaking down the revenue by area, there was a noticeable growth in Europe and the Asia-Pacific region and even more growth in Japan and the Americas. China’s total sales fell from $18.37 billion to $16.23 billion which may explain why this year’s first quarter earnings did not reach the dizzying heights of 2015, a year when growth in China was at a high.
Regardless, sales of the iPhone beat last year’s by a few million units meaning revenue from this product alone grew by 4.7 per cent. This was due to the strength of both iPhone 7 models, which Apple said received great demand. We didn’t see the release of a new iPad in the fall, which probably explains why they’re once again at a double-digit decline. With a decline of roughly 19 per cent, unit sales dropped from 16.12 million to 13.08 million. A new iPad is rumored to be released in Spring. Mac revenue is currently up by $500 million and this certainly can be attributed to the release of the new MacBook Pro, the product’s first update in a year and a half.
If you go as far back as 1999, shares in Apple were exchanging hands for as little as $4. Shares reached an all-time high in 2015 and currently trade at roughly $128.50. Experts have advised investors to sell up their shares while they’re at a high before they reach the staggering lows of $90 seen in 2016. This does not explain the double-digit rebound in sales of products including the Mac and iPad and revenue growth from services like iCloud, Apple Music and the App Store which grew 18.3 per cent from last year. Apple CFO Luca Maestri boasted about the company’s recently increased revenue and didn’t fail to remind that 2016’s figures had the assistance of a $548 million payout from a patent infringement lawsuit.
