Apple registered a 20% drop in the sales of its flagship iPhone smartphone during Q4 2020. Probably, enthusiasts have been waiting for the release of the latest flagship iPhone 12 5G, announced earlier this month.
On Thursday, October 29, Cupertino-based tech giant Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL) reported its fiscal Q4 2020 earnings. The results failed to impress the market as the AAPL stock tanked 4.22% in after-market-hours trading. The company has just managed to stay afloat the Street expectation while registering a 20% dip in iPhone sales.
For the quarter ending September, Apple reported revenue of $64.7 billion against the expected $63.70 billion. Also, the EPS was marginally higher at 73 cents per share against the expected 70 cents. Besides, the iPhone revenue sales disappointed with 20.7% down year-over-year. Apple reported $26.44 billion in iPhone revenue against the estimated $27.93 billion.
On the other hand, Mac and iPad revenue were significantly up by 28% and 46% respectively. The Mac sales revenue stood at $9.0 billion while iPad revenue at $6.8 billion. However, it wasn’t enough to make up for the fall in the flagship iPhone sales. Speaking at the earnings call, Apple CEO Tim Cook said:
“Apple capped off a fiscal year defined by innovation in the face of adversity with a September quarter record, led by all-time records for Mac and Services. Despite the ongoing impacts of COVID-19, Apple is in the midst of our most prolific product introduction period ever, and the early response to all our new products, led by our first 5G-enabled iPhone lineup, has been tremendously positive”.
Well, it is clear that Apple is betting now on its recently introduced iPhone 12 5G. The iPhone 12 pre-orders have already started in the U.S. and other parts of the world. Besides, the company is also seeing a good response from one of its biggest markets, China.
No Outlook for Fiscal Q1 2021after Q4 Report Drags Apple Stock South
What was more surprising for the investors was that Apple didn’t provide an outlook for the fiscal first quarter of 2021 i.e. the quarter ending December. This lack of clarity from the company pulled AAPL stock down 4.22% in the aftermarket hours. On Thursday closing, Apple (AAPL) stock was trading at $115 with the company’s market cap at $2 trillion.
Apple CEO Tim Cook hinted that all depends on how the COVID-19 scenario pans out across the globe. Europe has entered another phase of lockdown and the U.S. is again seeing a surge in the cases. Speaking to CNBC, Tim Cook said:
“If you look at the case count, the case counts are climbing in Western Europe. They’re climbing in the United States. And so there’s still a sufficient level of uncertainty out there… we don’t believe that’s an environment to guide into”.
Due to all the uncertainty related to the COVID-19 pandemic, the company has refrained from offering any guidance for the past two quarters. Apple is, however, confident for clocking up sales for its next-generation iPhone and other devices announced earlier this month.
next