Apple reported a record profit quarter in September on Thursday, with iPhone revenue increasing year over year, even with only a week or so of iPhone 15 sales included in the numbers. But all the company’s other hardware divisions were down and as noted by CNBC, total sales fell for the fourth consecutive quarter. The company generated $89.5 billion in total revenue during the quarter.
CEO Tim Cook told CNBC that the iPhone 15 lineup is showing stronger initial momentum than the 14 series. “If you look at the iPhone 15 over that period of time and compare it to the iPhone 14 over the same period in the prior-year quarter, the iPhone 15 did better than the iPhone 14,” he said, adding that the Pro and Pro Max devices were both currently in limited supply.
The Mac business was particularly hard hit, down 34 percent year over year. So you can see the impetus for Apple to hold its M3 event earlier this week, where the company unveiled updated MacBook Pros and an updated iMac. Cook described the current PC consumer market as “challenging.”
“I think Mac is going to have a significantly better quarter in the December quarter,” Cook told CNBC. “We have the M3, we have the new products and we don’t have the phenomenon of comparing year after year.” Cook said the Mac business was unusually strong this time last year.
With no recent new models to speak of, iPad revenue fell 10 percent. Wearables revenue declined by a considerably smaller 3 percent. As usual, Apple’s services unit was a reliable source of revenue and was up 16 percent year over year. “Every major service hit a record high,” Cook told CNBC.
Apple’s CEO seems optimistic about the company’s position heading into the holiday shopping season. “We now have our strongest product lineup yet heading into the holiday season, including the iPhone 15 lineup and our first carbon-neutral Apple Watch models, an important milestone in our efforts to make all Apple products carbon neutral. in carbon by 2030,” he said in a press release.
