Apple Reports Growth In Q1 Revenues, Cook Notes Record India Results

Apple has reported $119.6 Billion in its Q1 revenues, marking a 2% year-on-year growth in its revenues. But these numbers also discount one less week in the quarter, which means these numbers could be slightly better. Its EPS was $2.18, up 16% from a year ago, making an all-time high. Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO, noted all-time record growth from Europe and the Asia Pacific markets, including India, which helped Apple post these impressive quarterly figures.

"We also continue to see strong double-digit growth in many emerging markets, with all-time records in Malaysia, Mexico, the Philippines, Poland, and Turkey, as well as December quarter records in India, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, and Chile," Tim Cook said.

Apple has also posted an all-time record in revenues for its services business, with paid subscriptions growing in double digits year on year. Apple now has 2.2 billion active devices.

These results were announced on the cusp of Apple’s launch of the Vision Pro headset, which many have remarked to be a groundbreaking new spatial computer. The $3499 device, however, is pricey and at the time of launch has limited functionality offered, being only in the US. Cook notes that the Vision Pro will launch with 600 dedicated apps and over a million apps from the iPad, which will run natively on the device.

Cook notes that year-on-year revenue for the iPhone grew by 6% at $69.7 billion. India played a role in this growth, as noted by CounterPoint research, as the iPhone crossed the 10 million unit shipment mark and accounted for the highest revenue of a smartphone brand in India.

"Apple’s focus on India is also aiding the trend, with the brand surpassing the 10-million-unit mark in shipments and capturing the top position in revenue in a calendar year for the first time, propelled by robust demand for both its latest and older iPhones. The opening of own retail stores and increasing focus on LFR (large-format retail) through regular promotions contributed to increased offline shipments. Besides, higher trade-in values presented an appealing proposition for consumers to transition to iOS," Counterpoint Research noted in its report.

Apple’s CFO, Luca Maestri, noted that iPhone adoption in India’s enterprise sector was growing. He said, "We set all-time records in several countries and regions, including Latin America, Western Europe, the Middle East, and Korea, as well as December quarter records in India and Indonesia."

He cited the example of Zoho in India, noting that 80% of its employees chose the iPhone despite being offered other devices.

"In emerging markets, Zoho, a leading technology company headquartered in India, offers its 15,000-plus global employees a choice of devices, with 80% of their workforce using iPhone for work and nearly two-thirds of them choosing Mac as their primary computer," he added.

This also highlights growth for the Mac in a year where Apple has refreshed the MacBook Pro line twice - once with M2 Pro and M2 Max chipsets and then with M3, M3 Pro, and M3 Max line of chipsets.

The Mac managed $7.8 billion in revenue, returning to growth by 1% in the quarter. And this could see further acceleration with new MacBook Air models expected with the M3 chipset alongside the Mac Studio and Mac Pro awaiting updates to an M3 Ultra chip, which hasn’t been announced yet. Apple will also add the revenue from the Apple Vision Pro to its kitty next quarter onwards, which reportedly has already sold 200,000 units.

The iPad was a notable low light as revenue dropped by 25% to $7.02 billion, and wearables, home, and accessories revenue was also not the best, down 11% to $11.95 billion.

2023 was the first year since the launch of the iPad that Apple didn’t launch a new product. This will be remedied in March when Apple is expected to launch a redesigned iPad Pro with the M3 processor. Apple is also entering the 10th anniversary of the Apple Watch this year, which could bode a big redesign, but this also comes at a time when Apple is facing a sales ban for the Apple Watch in the US after it has been deemed to be infringing on patents by Masimo. Tim Cook reiterated that Apple was not going to license the blood oxygen monitor by Masimo.

Tim Cook also revealed that Apple is focusing on generative AI, and many new generative AI-fueled features will be coming to Apple’s products later in 2024. It has been believed that at WWDC 2024, Apple will announce iOS 18, which will be the biggest update in the history of iOS and will be powered by generative AI, including an all-new Siri.

"We will continue to invest in these and other technologies that will shape the future that includes artificial intelligence, where we continue to spend a tremendous amount of time and effort, and we're excited to share the details of our ongoing work in that space later this year," Cook added, highlighting the fact that Apple has been quietly acquiring AI startups in the last year at a rapid pace.

"We have a lot of work going on internally, as I've alluded to before. Our MO, if you will, has always been to do work and then talk about work, and not to get out in front of ourselves, and so we're going to hold that to this as well," he continued. "But we have got some things that we're incredibly excited about, that we'll be talking about later this year," he added.

While largely it has been a good quarter for Apple, it did see a huge decline in its revenues in China which is its biggest market.