Apple Reports 4Q 2023 Results: $23B Profit on $89.5B Revenue

[sideshowuniqueuser]

Expected good results this last quarter compared to previous year.

Apple stock dips after weak outlook for December quarter revenue

Apple reported earnings after the bell. Here are the results.

www.cnbc.com

Apple now has $162 billion in cash on hand, slightly less than last quarter

Here's how much money Apple has in its cash pile.

www.cnbc.com

KEY POINTS

• Apple now has $162.1 billion in cash on hand, which is less than the $166.5 billion it had last quarter.
• The company regularly maintains one of the largest cash piles in the U.S.
• Apple reported fourth-fiscal quarter earnings on Thursday that beat analyst expectations for sales and earnings per share, but revealed that overall sales fell for the fourth quarter in a row.

Here’s how Apple did, versus LSEG (formerly Refinitiv) consensus expectations:

• EPS: $1.46 per share, versus $1.39 per share expected
• Revenue: $89.50 billion, versus $89.28 billion expected
• iPhone revenue: $43.81 billion, versus $43.81 billion expected
• Mac revenue: $7.61 billion versus $8.63 billion expected
• iPad revenue: $6.44 billion, versus $6.07 billion expected
• Wearables revenue: $9.32 billion, versus $9.43 billion expected
• Services revenue: $22.31 billion, versus $21.35 billion expected
• Gross margin: 45.2% versus 44.5% expected

The cash is all kept in a huge vault, in which Tim Cook bathes on a regular basis.

 

[iPadified]

My daughter is a student and owns a Mac, She bought an iPad and mostly leaves the Mac at home. Why. Weight and size were quite different. The iPad is easier to cary.

But there is another huge advantage the iPad has, the pencil. You can't take written notes on a Mac. Just try making a simple diagram and then labing the parts while in class while listening to a lecture on a Mac. You can't.

I used to use my iPad while teaching to control a video projector. I could handhold an iPad Mini and make underlines and check marks on the slide live.

That said, I'm on a Mac Mini M2-Pro now.

Don't bother. These persons do not understand the iPad and never will. Obviously Mac sales are in much bigger trouble than iPads. Therefore the very odd "scary fast" event and the 30% drop YoY. It is the holiday season; release new products to put under the Christmas tree and not products for work. This is a desperate move.

 

[svish]

Looks like a decent quarter! People are holding on to iPads longer as expected.

 

[chineseguy38]

Almost 50% from iPhone. If something goes wrong with the product. Apple will collapse right away.

 

[RandomTox]

Higher margin?

Well, when the sales fall they compensate it with higher prices if I read it correctly. Sadly Apple is a Phone/Tablet company now. Look at Mac sales. Still awaiting updated bigger screen iMac...

 

[MVMNT]

Apple really didn't need to up their services prices, but then we remember they're not a charity

 

[MVMNT]

Looking at the charts, iPod sales really fell off.

Right round May 2022

 

[CarAnalogy]

Mac making more revenue than iPad quarter after quarter speaks volumes of the problems with the iPad lineup, from how awful iPadOS is, to how confusing the entire iPad lineup is.

Aside from the vanilla iPad, there's absolutely no reason to get the more higher end iPads over a Mac. Guts of a Mac, but does a lot less than a Mac, and is more expensive than a Mac. And if the rumors of a lower cost Macbook that's under $700 are real, then the iPad redundancy problem is only gonna get even worse.

Even people for whom limited functionality would be a feature it’s hard to recommend because it’s too limited. And the multitasking is too confusing. They don’t seem to even know what they are trying to achieve.

People ask me for a good sub $500 computer and that doesn’t exist. I suggest the iPad but that doesn’t really meet their needs either. Best I can do is recommend the M1 MacBook Air.

 

[ignatius345]

Apple software is a mess. Hardware is fine. Apple needs a revolutionary revision to iOS and iPadOS. It’s becoming less and less workable for business/power users.

iPadOS is quite tragic. The hardware is just insanely good, but it seems like everyone who uses one to replace a Mac has to have a super deep bench of workarounds and special apps to make it possible to get anything done.

 

[Surf Monkey]

Apple has always prioritized margin... it's a business and their shareholders wouldn't expect anything else.

Upselling is a big thing.. and Apple have been Kings of the upsell for a long, long time.

They make amazing consumer hardware and software... but this is their business. One of the reasons for their success is their brand, and their rather weird ultra loyal following.. just look at forums like Macrumors. No other technology company has anything quite like it. No other tech company hosts events like Apple does. Not even Microsoft, Tesla and Google.

I would love to see a documentary about Apple and its history... and how its ultra loyal customer base formed. Anyone know of any? let me know!

Triumph of the Nerds - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Spaceboi Scaphandre]

Even people for whom limited functionality would be a feature it’s hard to recommend because it’s too limited. And the multitasking is too confusing. They don’t seem to even know what they are trying to achieve.

People ask me for a good sub $500 computer and that doesn’t exist. I suggest the iPad but that doesn’t really meet their needs either. Best I can do is recommend the M1 MacBook Air.

Funny that, a good sub $500 computer does exist: The Steam Deck. People forget you can use it like a normal PC even though it's primarily a handheld gaming PC, and it is used frequently as a normal PC, and you can get 256gb refurb models for $500 now. https://www.steamdeck.com/

A DJ in Japan uses it to control his turntable

UCLA uses Steam Decks to control their bipedal robots

Biggest use case we've seen yet though: The Ukrainian army uses Steam Decks to control their turrets to turn bears into sunflowers.

 

[haydn!]

Well, when the sales fall they compensate it with higher prices if I read it correctly. Sadly Apple is a Phone/Tablet company now. Look at Mac sales. Still awaiting updated bigger screen iMac...

iPhone has dominated Apples balance sheet for the last 15 years. But that doesn’t make the Mac any less important to them.

Mac sales have grown significantly in that period too. Just not as fast as iPhone did.

Source: https://www.statista.com/statistics...macintosh-computers-since-first-quarter-2006/

 

[Harry Haller]

Growth till ‘12 followed by a leveling off till ‘20 and a COVID spurt 21’-22.
Looks like ‘23 moving forward might be another low or no growth cycle.

 

[ignatius345]

iPhone has dominated Apples balance sheet for the last 15 years. But that doesn’t make the Mac any less important to them.

Mac sales have grown significantly in that period too. Just not as fast as iPhone did.

View attachment 2306686

Source: https://www.statista.com/statistics...macintosh-computers-since-first-quarter-2006/

True, but the Mac is just a much smaller slice of the pie. If you go back to the overall breakdown of revenue, the iPad and Mac put together don't equal the revenue from Services. The Mac market is still growing, but not very fast, and they're nowhere near as essential to the health of the company. Back 15 or 20 years ago Macs were Apple's bread and butter. Now, not so much.

Also, to zoom out for a minute, computers (i.e. a keyboard, a display and a CPU of some kind) have had an insane 40 year run at this point. Clearly Apple is looking ahead to the "next thing" with the Vision Pro trial balloon. So, we'll see!

 

[CarAnalogy]

Funny that, a good sub $500 computer does exist: The Steam Deck. People forget you can use it like a normal PC even though it's primarily a handheld gaming PC, and it is used frequently as a normal PC, and you can get 256gb refurb models for $500 now. https://www.steamdeck.com/

A DJ in Japan uses it to control his turntable

UCLA uses Steam Decks to control their bipedal robots

Biggest use case we've seen yet though: The Ukrainian army uses Steam Decks to control their turrets to turn bears into sunflowers.

Ok but I’m talking about people who are somebody’s grandparent. You’re not wrong but I don’t see them being at all comfortable with this.

Also the Steam Deck is likely subsidized by the idea of selling more Steam games.

It’s definitely thinking outside the box but I’m not sure it solves the problem of “what simple computer do I point people to when they ask me for a cheap basic computer for basic things.”

One person in particular just asked me a self described “simple” question: I have an original iPad Pro, will it do what I need? As in, be a cheap computer for web browsing and email?

I couldn’t give a simple answer. Yeah probably until you run into something weird an iPad can’t do like needing to plug in a printer. Again these are older people.

 

[Surf Monkey]

Ok but I’m talking about people who are somebody’s grandparent. You’re not wrong but I don’t see them being at all comfortable with this.

Also the Steam Deck is likely subsidized by the idea of selling more Steam games.

It’s definitely thinking outside the box but I’m not sure it solves the problem of “what simple computer do I point people to when they ask me for a cheap basic computer for basic things.”

One person in particular just asked me a self described “simple” question: I have an original iPad Pro, will it do what I need? As in, be a cheap computer for web browsing and email?

I couldn’t give a simple answer. Yeah probably until you run into something weird an iPad can’t do like needing to plug in a printer. Again these are older people.

One day we’ll be able to drop our iPhone into a dock and have IT become a full on MacOS computer.

 

[Harry Haller]

One day we’ll be able to drop our iPhone into a dock and have IT become a full on MacOS computer.

The way Samsung Dex works or something different?

 

[Surf Monkey]

The way Samsung Dex works or something different?

No. More like a dock that connects to a monitor. When the device is in the dock it runs MacOS and outputs to the external monitor. When it’s undocked it runs iOS and outputs to the phone’s display.

 

[CarAnalogy]

No. More like a dock that connects to a monitor. When the device is in the dock it runs MacOS and outputs to the external monitor. When it’s undocked it runs iOS and outputs to the phone’s display.

I’m not sure if Apple will do this in the foreseeable future. They like having different devices. Why have a dockable phone when they can sell you a phone and a Mac?

And as much trouble as they seem to have figuring out what the iPad is even supposed to be for, not sure how the software side of that would be. If it’s any less powerful than a full Mac, I’d rather just have a phone and a Mac.

 

[Surf Monkey]

I’m not sure if Apple will do this in the foreseeable future. They like having different devices. Why have a dockable phone when they can sell you a phone and a Mac?

And as much trouble as they seem to have figuring out what the iPad is even supposed to be for, not sure how the software side of that would be. If it’s any less powerful than a full Mac, I’d rather just have a phone and a Mac.

No doubt. I’m not suggesting this would happen any time soon. I’d expect it to happen down the road when the distinctions between desktop and mobile computers are more merged. People have installed systems 7, 8 and OS X on iPhones over the years…

 

[CarAnalogy]

No doubt. I’m not suggesting this would happen any time soon. I’d expect it to happen down the road when the distinctions between desktop and mobile computers are more merged. People have installed systems 7, 8 and OS X on iPhones over the years…

Yeah but as a hobby. Microsoft basically did that with Windows phone, just slapped Windows (the interface anyway) into phones. I’m not sure anyone has yet invented a good solution to this. The interface would be the big problem, the hardware is there but there’s too big a gap between mobile and non mobile

 

[Surf Monkey]

Yeah but as a hobby. Microsoft basically did that with Windows phone, just slapped Windows (the interface anyway) into phones. I’m not sure anyone has yet invented a good solution to this. The interface would be the big problem, the hardware is there but there’s too big a gap between mobile and non mobile

Agree. The idea is that it would never run MacOS on the phone’s screen. It would have to be plugged into a monitor for MacOS to boot.