Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Difficult times, but Apple isn't leaving. Started buying stock in 2004 and keep buying with spare bucks. Was smart/lucky. Buying if it dips is smart IMO. I'm really happy with how well services continue to grow. Buy. Never sell unless you have to with Apple.
 
  • Like
Reactions: SuperCachetes
Wrong. These last two quarters have been gangbuster for all tech companies, just like I explained in my post.

There was such huge demand for tech in the work-from-home
Wrong. There was a big demand for office type equipment and maybe computers. People needed printers, monitors, webcams, office supplies, maybe telephones, paper, keyboards, mice etc. General things you would have in your corporate office, but weren't set up for in your home office. This started with general shelter in place. On the east coast it was March 13. One year ago today Oct 2019, there was a hint of what was happening in China, not in the US.

/ learn-from-home environment that everyone who had anything to offer in the COVID era made huge sales. Logitech can’t make enough of their cameras. The cameras that no one was buying a year ago are in such huge demand that they are selling for 3x their MSRP if you are lucky to find one. People were so desperate that they were bying cheap and crappy Chinese cameras for twice the price that decent Logitech webcams were selling before COVID hit. Monitors have been in short supply for a while. The price of monitors actually skyrocketed in April and May. Keyboards have been sold out computer mouses (hate that plural) have been sold out. This was absolutely the best time for Apple to make gangbuster sales. People who suffered financial ruin in the pandemic never bought any Apple devices anyway. People who are Apple customers did well in the work-from-home era, and they didn’t have a lack of funds to buy the equipment they needed for remote work. In fact, they bought millions of Apple gadgets that they wouldn’t have bought had it not been for COVID. And yet, Apple barely exceeded last year’s numbers.
People didn't need cell phones. They already had their Galaxys, Notes, iphones, Oppos, Huawei, etc. Maybe they needed tablets. People needed office type stuff that they didn't have at home, including office furniture. I was lucky, early on I bought a new monitor, and very recently I bought another high end 4k monitor. Couldn't get toilet paper, but I picked up a monitor. The reality is windows runs corporate america and that is why the windows tech computer companies did well.
 
Difficult times, but Apple isn't leaving. Started buying stock in 2004 and keep buying with spare bucks. Was smart/lucky. Buying if it dips is smart IMO. I'm really happy with how well services continue to grow. Buy. Never sell unless you have to with Apple.

My Apple position is so oversized and so much lower, adding here would be a little much. I do think it’s going higher, of course.

Same. Right now my own AAPL is sitting at 2,330% return. Adding $110 stock shares to it would feel like a buzzkill in some ways. But if I was starting out, or wasn’t already too highly concentrated - now would be a great time to load up with whatever I could.
 
Wrong. There was a big demand for office type equipment and maybe computers. People needed printers, monitors, webcams, office supplies, maybe telephones, paper, keyboards, mice etc. General things you would have in your corporate office, but weren't set up for in your home office. This started with general shelter in place. On the east coast it was March 13. One year ago today Oct 2019, there was a hint of what was happening in China, not in the US.


People didn't need cell phones. They already had their Galaxys, Notes, iphones, Oppos, Huawei, etc. Maybe they needed tablets. People needed office type stuff that they didn't have at home, including office furniture. I was lucky, early on I bought a new monitor, and very recently I bought another high end 4k monitor. Couldn't get toilet paper, but I picked up a monitor. The reality is windows runs corporate america and that is why the windows tech computer companies did well.
Why are you telling me about toilet paper and March 13 on the east coast? I live in the east coast and I know what happened on March 13.
Besides monitors, keyboards, and mouses (yes, it’s “mouses” and not “mice” when you refer to computer pointing devices), people needed laptops and tablets. Apple sold the all-time record of Macs in the last quarter, and the quarter before was also huge in Mac sales. And the iPads were in huge demand too. Parents who had money didn’t want their kids to be staring at Chromebook, so the Macs and the iPads were flying off the shelves. Every single tech company that had a product that could be used in a work-from-home environment sold out and if they could manufacture more, they sold out again, and again, and again. The reason that NASDAQ appreciated like it did since March 23 is partly because the anticipation of huge sales in the tech sector was prevalent. And huge they were. Look at Zoom! Even they made a hefty profit. Look at Ring Central, look at Logitech.

I put my 2018 MacBook Air on Ebay in anticipation of the new 2020 MacBook Air that I ordered in the Spring as soon as they were announced. When I realized that the 2020 MacBook Air was not powerful enough for me, I told the highest bidder that I would have to delay the shipment by 2 weeks while I was waiting for the 2020 13” MacBook Pro. The guy begged me not to delay the shipment. He said his wife was just transferred to the work from home routine, and she didn’t have a computer at home to use for work. He actually offered me $200 above the bidding price just to ship the 2018 MacBook Air to him on time. He begged and he cried. I ended up taking down that eBay auction because I couldn’t be without a computer for 2 weeks.

That’s how desperate people were for computers and tablets in the spring. Apple had a huge opportunity there to sell sell sell. Same was happening in the summer. Failing to see that the numbers reported tonight are very troublesome is myopic to say it nicely. Now, if Apple were an airline or a cruise line and reported numbers similar to the same quarter of last year, that would have been very impressive. But Apple is not an airline. The Pandemic was created for the companies like Apple, Microsoft, Zoom, etc. to bag unimaginable growth in sales and profits.

Look at tonight’s Amazon sales numbers, profits, etc. They totally blew the lid ooff everything that anyone could imagine. That’s what Apple was expected to do. There will NEVER be another opportunity like the last two quarters. At this point, everyone is stocked with gadgetry that will last them for years to come.

I bought my son an iPad Mini in 2013, which he is still using. So, the extra iPads that were bought in tens of millions in the past two quarters will last kids for many years. Parents won’t be buying new ones any time soon. The Macs that parents got their kids to learn from home will last for many years.

My son is using a 2012 Mac Mini that I took out of the box on March 14. It sat in the box unused for years. The Mac Mini is doing great as my son’s portal into the online school, and I don’t expect to buy him a new Mac for years. He didn’t have a personal computer before March 14 at all, but the 8-year-old Mac Mini he is using is more than capable to do all the computing tasks he needs.

Those who didn’t have spare computers sitting in a box had to buy computers or tablets for their kids to attend school via distance learning. One of my friends bought his 9-year-old daughter a brand spanking new Mac Mini to attend school remotely. That was the only reason. Had it not been fir COVID, that purchase would not have been made. When will he be buying her another Mac? Never. She will be buying her next Mac herself when she moves out of the house in 9 years.

So, the analysts’ expectation is that in the prolonged pandemic, which will last for at least another year and a half - according to Fauci - the tech sales will start sagging because people will be concerned about overspending while all their tech needs have already been met during calendar Q2 and Q3 of 2020.
 
Last edited:
These are fantastic results given the Covid environment and lack of iPhone 12 sales in the Q....
Crazy to see the stock drop... makes no sense.
They are great results, but it is all relative, but it seems others in the tech sector despite the pandemic are doing much better. Microsoft, Google etc all reported huge increases in Revenue and income; Apple was largely flat. e.g. Microsoft without the new Xbox earned more income in the quarter on half the revenue. Samsung sold 50% more phones this quarter whereas Apple sold less...it seems Samsung are picking up more from the Huawei fallout in China than Apple?

It doesn’t help when Apple offers no future guidance either which in my opinion is poor; Apple have all new phones, iPads watches, new subscription services all launched recently or in the next few days so when can the company show the market confidence, if not now?
 
This. This year I finally retired my ipad 2 after 9 years of service. Apple just builds great, long lasting hardware and they support it. Last year they even updated ios 9 for that GPS bug.
The iPhone is the same. I had my 6 until last year, and it would've lasted longer had it not gotten severely damaged.
 
  • Like
Reactions: I7guy
It's interesting to see how after 10 years the iPad still counts less than Macs... so long to the post-PC era. I clearly remember those people screaming how in 10 years nobody would remember how a PC looked like, I was like "no way" and they laughed at me...
 
  • Like
Reactions: hot-gril
It's interesting to see how after 10 years the iPad still counts less than Macs... so long to the post-PC era. I clearly remember those people screaming how in 10 years nobody would remember how a PC looked like, I was like "no way" and they laughed at me...
Personally I’m disappointed with the state of the iPadOS even now that pointing devices are no longer banned. I really believe now and believed in 2011 (when I bought my first iPad) that MacOS and iPadOS should be merged into one OS with two different UIs (for docked and undocked states).

All the arguments aside, people realized quickly into the pandemic that the iPad is not a proper substitute for a real computer OS when it comes to remote work or remote learning. I personally witnessed all the complaints from kids about all sorts of issues trying to learn from home with remote tools like Zoom MS Teams or Google Classroom, using the iPad. Teachers tell kids to get off an iPad and log in with a real computer.
The reason that Macs outsold the iPad in the last quarter is the fact that the biggest reason for new computing device purchases this time around was work and study rather than entertainment.
Yes, watching a show in bed is better with an iPad, but doing remote study over a web conferencing platform using an iPad is awkward and infuriating.
 
Why are you telling me about toilet paper and March 13 on the east coast? I live in the east coast and I know what happened on March 13.
Besides monitors, keyboards, and mouses (yes, it’s “mouses” and not “mice” when you refer to computer pointing devices), people needed laptops and tablets. Apple sold the all-time record of Macs in the last quarter, and the quarter before was also huge in Mac sales. And the iPads were in huge demand too. Parents who had money didn’t want their kids to be staring at Chromebook, so the Macs and the iPads were flying off the shelves. Every single tech company that had a product that could be used in a work-from-home environment sold out and if they could manufacture more, they sold out again, and again, and again. The reason that NASDAQ appreciated like it did since March 23 is partly because the anticipation of huge sales in the tech sector was prevalent. And huge they were. Look at Zoom! Even they made a hefty profit. Look at Ring Central, look at Logitech.

I put my 2018 MacBook Air on Ebay in anticipation of the new 2020 MacBook Air that I ordered in the Spring as soon as they were announced. When I realized that the 2020 MacBook Air was not powerful enough for me, I told the highest bidder that I would have to delay the shipment by 2 weeks while I was waiting for the 2020 13” MacBook Pro. The guy begged me not to delay the shipment. He said his wife was just transferred to the work from home routine, and she didn’t have a computer at home to use for work. He actually offered me $200 above the bidding price just to ship the 2018 MacBook Air to him on time. He begged and he cried. I ended up taking down that eBay auction because I couldn’t be without a computer for 2 weeks.

That’s how desperate people were for computers and tablets in the spring. Apple had a huge opportunity there to sell sell sell. Same was happening in the summer. Failing to see that the numbers reported tonight are very troublesome is myopic to say it nicely. Now, if Apple were an airline or a cruise line and reported numbers similar to the same quarter of last year, that would have been very impressive. But Apple is not an airline. The Pandemic was created for the companies like Apple, Microsoft, Zoom, etc. to bag unimaginable growth in sales and profits.

Look at tonight’s Amazon sales numbers, profits, etc. They totally blew the lid ooff everything that anyone could imagine. That’s what Apple was expected to do. There will NEVER be another opportunity like the last two quarters. At this point, everyone is stocked with gadgetry that will last them for years to come.

I bought my son an iPad Mini in 2013, which he is still using. So, the extra iPads that were bought in tens of millions in the past two quarters will last kids for many years. Parents won’t be buying new ones any time soon. The Macs that parents got their kids to learn from home will last for many years.

My son is using a 2012 Mac Mini that I took out of the box on March 14. It sat in the box unused for years. The Mac Mini is doing great as my son’s portal into the online school, and I don’t expect to buy him a new Mac for years. He didn’t have a personal computer before March 14 at all, but the 8-year-old Mac Mini he is using is more than capable to do all the computing tasks he needs.

Those who didn’t have spare computers sitting in a box had to buy computers or tablets for their kids to attend school via distance learning. One of my friends bought his 9-year-old daughter a brand spanking new Mac Mini to attend school remotely. That was the only reason. Had it not been fir COVID, that purchase would not have been made. When will he be buying her another Mac? Never. She will be buying her next Mac herself when she moves out of the house in 9 years.

So, the analysts’ expectation is that in the prolonged pandemic, which will last for at least another year and a half - according to Fauci - the tech sales will start sagging because people will be concerned about overspending while all their tech needs have already been met during calendar Q2 and Q3 of 2020.
Why are you repeating the obvious as if it's some new insight? Apple has been blowing it out of the water with wearables and services. Iphones (or cell phones in general were not the type of products needed in the pandemic). General low tech office equipment and supplies were what was needed. Yes a lot of companies who provided product and services related to what was needed in a pandemic prospered. Mac has always been a minor player in the market and has never really driven Apples income for a long time.

When will sales like this happen again? Probably never in our lifetimes. Apple at $62B last quarter is blowing it out of the water, just not the way you think of it.
Personally I’m disappointed with the state of the iPadOS even now that pointing devices are no longer banned. I really believe now and believed in 2011 (when I bought my first iPad) that MacOS and iPadOS should be merged into one OS with two different UIs (for docked and undocked states).

All the arguments aside, people realized quickly into the pandemic that the iPad is not a proper substitute for a real computer OS when it comes to remote work or remote learning. I personally witnessed all the complaints from kids about all sorts of issues trying to learn from home with remote tools like Zoom MS Teams or Google Classroom, using the iPad. Teachers tell kids to get off an iPad and log in with a real computer.
The reason that Macs outsold the iPad in the last quarter is the fact that the biggest reason for new computing device purchases this time around was work and study rather than entertainment.
Yes, watching a show in bed is better with an iPad, but doing remote study over a web conferencing platform using an iPad is awkward and infuriating.
Ipad or any tablet (included the half-baked Dex) is not a general replacement for a typical windows corporate desktop with 2, 3, and even 4 monitors. There is a reason those setups exists and the ipad was never meant to compete in that market.

My shelter in place computer has 3 monitors, for a reason. But that doesn't mean I can't use my ipad for on the job related activities. Based on what ones' computer usage is and ipad can be a computer substitute or maybe it can't.

An ipad is never going to replace a typical corporate desktop as referenced above, but then again, even a laptop without a dock and additional monitor can compete with a three monitor setup. It all depends.
 
It's interesting to see how after 10 years the iPad still counts less than Macs... so long to the post-PC era. I clearly remember those people screaming how in 10 years nobody would remember how a PC looked like, I was like "no way" and they laughed at me...
And the niche it tried to fill was instead filled with Chromebooks, which are the epitome of netbooks.
 
Ipad or any tablet (included the half-baked Dex) is not a general replacement for a typical windows corporate desktop with 2, 3, and even 4 monitors. There is a reason those setups exists and the ipad was never meant to compete in that market.

My shelter in place computer has 3 monitors, for a reason. But that doesn't mean I can't use my ipad for on the job related activities. Based on what ones' computer usage is and ipad can be a computer substitute or maybe it can't.

An ipad is never going to replace a typical corporate desktop as referenced above, but then again, even a laptop without a dock and additional monitor can compete with a three monitor setup. It all depends.
Yeah, the point is not how many monitors you have, but how many activities it can handle. You may have only one in front of you, but you have many more in the background (documents, sites, mails, chats...), and tablets just suck at this - and it's all the software's fault.
Heck, this even predates computers! You may have one job, but you often needs multiple tools and informations in order to do it. Do tablet people actually ever worked in a office?
 
That’s a good one, but iPad is objectively a serious business and is stronger today than in the last 4 years.
It might be stronger today than it was 4 years ago but it's still dead last. Don't get me wrong, I wish it were better but no matter how hard Apple try to sell us on how it's the answer in a "post PC world" it just isn't.

How Apple plan to address that I don't know but with Apple silicon and catalyst around the corner I don't see how the line has an uplifting future without Apple gimping the new laptops in a way that then gives the iPads a USP. On paper there's no reason why the laptops shouldn't do EVERYTHING an iPad does. Touchscreens, Pencil support, FaceID etc, it should all be there from day 1, as it has for say the Surface Book. That will make a strong Apple laptop again and make me want to buy one. (Sorry, I digressed from the iPad topic.)
 
It might be stronger today than it was 4 years ago but it's still dead last. Don't get me wrong, I wish it were better but no matter how hard Apple try to sell us on how it's the answer in a "post PC world" it just isn't.

How Apple plan to address that I don't know but with Apple silicon and catalyst around the corner I don't see how the line has an uplifting future without Apple gimping the new laptops in a way that then gives the iPads a USP. On paper there's no reason why the laptops shouldn't do EVERYTHING an iPad does. Touchscreens, Pencil support, FaceID etc, it should all be there from day 1, as it has for say the Surface Book. That will make a strong Apple laptop again and make me want to buy one. (Sorry, I digressed from the iPad topic.)
“Dead last” in a company Apple’s size is still an enormous business and it just means Apple’s other businesses are even faster growing and more exciting.

iPad dwarfs the surface book and the fact you even mentioned it in the same breath made you lose all credibility.
 
  • Like
Reactions: SuperCachetes
“Dead last” in a company Apple’s size is still an enormous business and it just means Apple’s other businesses are even faster growing and more exciting.

iPad dwarfs the surface book and the fact you even mentioned it in the same breath made you lose all credibility.
Let's have an objective, adult conversation where you can mention a competitor's product without getting personally attacked. Here's a decent summary of today's announcement. Text for the lazy:
Cool performance bump for the MacBook Pro, but today's PC laptops have fantastic screens with tiny bezels. Face unlock. Touchscreens and pencils. 4G modems. Tons of awesome features. This looks like a faster MacBook Pro from 2015 with a tiny touchbar nobody wants.
 
Let's have an objective, adult conversation where you can mention a competitor's product without getting personally attacked. Here's a decent summary of today's announcement. Text for the lazy:
iPad crushes Surface in tablets.

Again, the problem Windows laptops is they run Windows. Bezels and looks aren’t the most important things for most people. The M1 chip is a very serious processor.

Touchscreen laptops are a gimmick. I have one and it sucks for doing any real work. Face unlock on a laptop? Ok, not something I need in a laptop. Same with a pencil.

The MacBook with a serious processor in the M1 is a workhorse.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: SuperCachetes
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.