“Apple on Tuesday said that its Mac line generated record single-quarter revenue of $7.2 billion, beating the previous mark set three years earlier by $300 million,” Gregg Keizer reports for Computerworld. “‘The Mac not only returned to growth but generated its highest quarterly revenue ever,’ said CEO Tim Cook in prepared remarks during a call with Wall Street analysts.”
“Apple said it sold approximately 5.37 million Macs during the December quarter, a 1.2% gain over the same period the year before and the fourth-largest number ever,” Keizer reports. “As Cook pointed out, the slight uptick in sales was a departure from the recent past: For the four quarters preceding December’s, Mac sales had been in decline, sometimes seriously so. The September quarter, for example, was down 14.4% from the comparable period in 2015.”
“Although company executives said little about the Mac during yesterday’s earnings call, Cook did mention the new Touch Bar-equipped MacBook Pro notebook, which launched in late October. He hinted that Apple could have sold more if it had had them,” Keizer reports. “It was the first time in four quarters that Mac revenue topped that of Services.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Macintosh. There’s life in the old boy yet!
That’s not possible. According to many, many, people on this site, the Macintosh line was doomed. With no new desktop Macs and a lackluster laptop upgrade, NO ONE would buy a Mac anymore. And yet the Mac had a record quarter despite the supposed majority of users whining and complaining.
This proves one thing that I’ve always known, the majority of the people who post here, in no way represent the feelings and attitudes of the majority of Apple customers.
It COULD have been 9.6 billion, so I’m not impressed.
We do represent many in our respective fields. What you forget is how many MORE sales Apple could have bragged about with new iMacs and revamped Mac Pro’s. The current sales figures support how good some Macs are, not how great the sales and the whole line could be.
Of course mdn is an echo chamber. But to pretend the Mac business is healthy just because a long overdue update to one product finally arrived is just not realistic. Apple benefitted from pent up demand and an extra week in the quarter. If Apple had actually delivered some impressive new products, the Mac division would be achieving strong double digit growth and the press would be full of positive reviews instead of continuing FUD.
Apple could have sold more Air Pods if it had had them too! Now delayed until April!
Apple could have sold more Air Pods if it had had them too! Now delayed until April!
With Tim Cook getting less than 40 percent of the Mac faithful around here, why does he still have his job? If you put him up against just the second place Elon Musk and Tim still lost to Musk, then that should be the last straw.
The reason he is not popular is because he is incapable of running the once-great company. Street smashing makes for good headlines but the celebration will have a limited life if the company continues to try to do nothing much more than sell phones. Abandoning the computer market is an astonishing blunder and Apple’s shareholders and MAC customers alike is just stupid. Tim Cook is a pathetic excuse to serve as the CEO of the second most valuable company on earth.
“With Tim Cook getting less than 40 percent of the Mac faithful around here, why does he still have his job?”
Ask a grown up to explain to you the difference between successfully running a huge corporation and winning the telephone vote of a TV talent show.
Delivering unprecedented growth and profits on a regular basis might possibly count for more than the opinions of anonymous commentators on a web site. There isn’t one other person on the planet who has developed the means to build and sell nearly a million high margin smartphones each and every day. Apple has a strategic long term vision that many fail to notice, but take a look at how much advanced in-house technology is being put into iPhones, iPads, Macs and even into wireless earbuds. iPhones with Apple-designed chips are only the beginning of a process which is accelerating.
If you had actually understood what was said when the financial results were announced, you might discover that Apple is now much more than just a seller of phones. Even Jim Cramer has finally realised that, but you still don’t.
“Apple’s shareholders and MAC customers alike is just stupid.”
You chose to mention stupidity …
When written, ~Mac~ is an abbreviation while ~MAC~ would be an acronym. Saying customers ~is~ stupid is hardly a sign of superior intelligence on your part.
You might also like to learn the difference between being the most valuable ~brand~ according to the perceptions of a consultancy company and being the most valuable ~company~ which is mathematically determined by market cap. One is a subjective opinion, the other is an objective measurement.
Let’s see… Sales are up a little, but still down for the long term. How did they get record revenue? By making them for less and charging us more. Our purchases of overpriced higher margin (than in the past) Mac’s helped them get the revenue. How long will people continue to buy???
Umm, Not quite. In accounting, Revenue is Sales Price, not profit or Income. The cost of the item has nothing to do with Revenue. Revenue is purely a top line item.
On the other hand, They refreshed an item in a line of products and it sold to the point they couldn’t keep it in stock to fulfill demand, driving revenue up over prior periods.
Hmmm, maybe, just maybe, if you would refresh ALL of the products in the line, revenue would grow even more??? Maybe they could try that?
Let me update my statements…
Quoted from the article:
“Apple said it sold approximately 5.37 million Macs during the December quarter, a 1.2% gain over the same period the year before and the fourth-largest number ever.”
“Apple on Tuesday said that its Mac line generated record single-quarter revenue of $7.2 billion”
They achieved a record 7.2 billion in revenue, on a less than record (fourth largest) sales volume of 5.37 million Macs.
I understand my margin statement above does not fit these terms (but is still true), The number, however, do indicate that there were higher prices on the Mac’s that led to record revenue on less than record volume.
And yes, I have money waiting for a new desktop Mac… they just need to release it.
@ beosjim … you’re absolutely correct to “Follow The Money”.
In simpler terms, the brag being made was that Mac revenue was up by $300M to $7.2B …
Mathematically, that’s a 1 – ($7.2-0.3)/(7.2) = 4.17% increase.
Now when Apple revamped the bMBP’s, did their prices go up by more than +4.17%?
(Hint: 4.17% of $2500 is $104).
Why yes they did.
As such, the claimed “record revenue” was because they raised prices.
And this becomes much more glaringly obvious in the next statement, which was that sale volume didn’t also set record.
One data point uptick does not make it a resurgence. Some long overdue refreshes of the rest of the Mac line, then at reasonable intervals thereafter, WOULD see a resurgence.