Apple held its earnings call for the fourth fiscal quarter of 2024 today (third calendar quarter), announcing quarterly revenue of $94.9 billion, up six percent year over year. During the call, Apple CEO Tim Cook and CFO Luca Maestri provided a look into Apple's performance, sales of the iPhone 16 models, Apple's services growth, and more.
We've rounded up the most interesting tidbits from the Q4 2024 earnings call below.
Apple's Profit
Revenue was up, but profit was down during the quarter because Apple had to make a one-time payment of $10.2 billion to settle tax issues in the European Union.
Apple Intelligence
In an interview with CNBC, Apple CEO Tim Cook said that iPhone 18.1 is encouraging customers to upgrade, and adoption rates are exceeding iOS 17.1 during the same time period last year.
"We're getting great feedback from customers and developers already and a really early stat, which is only three days worth of data: Users are adopting iOS 18.1 at twice the rate that they adopted 17.1 in the year ago quarter," Cook told CNBC.
Cook also said that Apple believes Apple Intelligence is a "compelling upgrade reason," but since it just launched three days ago, there's little data. "I could not be more excited about Apple Intelligence and the rollout in front of us," Cook said. He is using "future releases" and said it is "changing [his] daily life."
Apple is "moving as fast as possible" to bring Apple Intelligence to more countries "while ensuring quality." As for R&D, the level of intensity that Apple is putting into AI has "increased a lot," with some existing resources allocated to the new technology as well.
iPhone Sales
It's no surprise that iPhone sales were up during the quarter, as the iPhone 16 models launched in September. iPhone revenue was $46.2 billion, up from $43.8 billion in the year-ago quarter.
Cook said that iPhone 16 sales in September 2024 were stronger than iPhone 15 sales in September 2023.
Mac and iPad Sales
Mac and iPad Sales were up, with the Mac coming in at $7.7 billion, up from $7.6 billion in Q4 2023, and iPad revenue at $7 billion, up eight percent from $6.4 billion last year.
Wearables
Apple's wearables revenue fell this quarter, coming in at $9 billion, down three percent from $9.3 billion last year. Wearables revenue for fiscal 2024 was $37 billion, down from $39.9 billion in fiscal 2023.
Though wearables revenue was down, the Apple Watch install base reached a new all-time high, and more than half of customers who purchased an Apple Watch during the quarter were new to the product.
Services
Services revenue was almost $25 billion during the quarter, up from $22.3 billion in Q4 2023, and a new all-time record. Fiscal 2024 services revenue was $95 billion, up from $90 billion in the year-ago quarter.
Paid and transacting accounts reached a new all-time high, and paid accounts and paid subscriptions grew double digits year over year. Apple has more than 1 billion paid subscriptions across the services on its platform, which is double what it had four years ago.
Next Quarter
For the December quarter, Apple expects revenue to grow low to mid single digits year over year, with services revenue to grow double digits.
Farewell to Luca Maestri
This is Apple's final earnings call with Maestri, who is stepping down from his role on January 1, 2025 to lead the Corporate Services teams. Kevan Parekh will take over as Chief Financial Officer, joining Apple's executive team.
During the earnings call, Cook thanked Maestri for his "extraordinary service as Apple CFO," and said that during his 10 years in the role, Luca had done "truly exceptional work in shaping Apple as we know it today." Maestri said that serving as Apple CFO has "been a real privilege and an amazing journey."
Article Link: Apple's Q4 2024 Earnings Call Takeaways
