Apple’s revolutionary iPhone has accounted for less than half of Apple’s total revenue in one of the company’s fiscal quarters for the first time since 2012.
Shona Ghosh for Business Insider:
Apple has undergone a major shift.
For the first time since 2012, the iPhone accounts for less than half the firm’s overall revenue.
It’s not far off, at 48% for its fiscal third quarter. But that number is sure to keep falling.
In further good news for Apple, its overall revenue was up for the quarter. In other words, Apple is capable of making money from things that aren’t the iPhone faster than iPhone sales are falling.
That is a major milestone for the company.
MacDailyNews Take: Far too many people, including many Wall Street analysts, are today stunned over the diversity of Apple’s product and services offerings.
I think that’s because, under Steve Jobs, the iPhone was still a novelty, and people were lining up for the latest iPhone with every release and all the new features it offered. Then under Tim Cook, the novelty wore off, but he kept pushing it and pushing it and ignored the Mac, until just recently, he finally realized that was a mistake and started emphasizing the Mac again. That plus the fact that he shifted the iPhone strategy from one of being superior quality and performance to just being a luxury brand probably made people less enthusiastic about the iPhone in general.
I agree. The current price structuring for the iPhone line is pushing it out of a “common man” product. This is to say that anyone who buys one, is buying a luxury and the typical person will have to cut on something else in order to afford this luxury. Personally, I would rather keep fast internet service at home and save my money for a new Mac over shelling out a cool $1k for an iPhone.
Whatever you use more is where I spend more money on. Upgrading from a iPhone 6, I spent over $1000 for a iPhone X when it came out. It has been money well spent. Recently I saw that you could buy the same phone refurbished for $600.
AND concrete proof that there’s life beyond the Mac.
Apple’s critics have always dismissed it as a one trick pony. In the 1980’s and 90’s the critics used to complain that it only made Macs, subsequently it only made iPods, while for the last decade or so it was written off as only making money from iPhones. Many of us always knew that Apple was succeeding at doing more than one thing at a time, but this development is a very clear demonstration that Apple is certainly not a one trick pony and can generate massive profits across a broad range of products and services.
More impressively, it’s doing so at a time when market conditions are rather challenging and other companies are struggling. Concentrating on the most profitable sector of the market has been a very successful strategy for Apple.
True, that’s part of the reason why …
but another part of it is buried deep in Apple’s SEC filing in terms of just how the “Services” division’s revenues are being generated, which is misleading people.
In simple terms, “Services” aren’t only iCloud, News & Music subscriptions – – it also includes what we see as ‘free’ Services (e.g. Siri) and for these, Apple decides on their own how much its worth and then “taxes” the hardware division for the inclusion of that feature.
This accounting measure shifts revenue from hardware into Services…and Apple gets to decide how much to skim off from the one accounting column to the other. The fun part is to try to track down just how much Apple is charging itself. Good luck.
It’s the eco system 😎
This is a complete bullshit narrative made up by tech press, often paid by rival companies that Apple was a one trick pony. This, despite hard evidence that if the iPhone was erased, Apple’s other revenue still has it st the top end of companies. Of course this would never happen, but that’s how the press has treated the briefest downturn of iPhone demand with the usual Apple is doomed garbage.