12+ facts to help understand Apple’s record-breaking ‘slow’ quarter

by Jonny Evans · August 2, 2024

Traditionally Apple’s quietest quarter, Apple set a June quarter record with quarterly revenue of $85.8 billion, up 5 percent year over year, and quarterly earnings per diluted share of $1.40, up 11 percent year over year.

What the CEO said

“Today Apple is reporting a new June quarter revenue record of $85.8 billion, up 5 percent from a year ago,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO.

“We are also very pleased that our installed base of active devices reached a new all-time high in all geographic segments, thanks to very high levels of customer satisfaction and loyalty,” said Luca Maestri, Apple’s CFO.

During the post announcement analysts call, Apple let slip a number of insights and guides that may be important to consider as we look at what it does next:

What’s happening in India?

As predicted, Apple announced record revenue growth in India and two dozen other nations during the quarter. “We also set quarterly revenue records in more than two dozen countries and regions, including Canada, Mexico, France, Germany, the UK, India, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Thailand,” Apple CEO Tim Cook said during the company’s earning call. No surprise that driven by iPhone success, Mac sales also set new records in India.

What’s happening in China?

While China was a little weaker, Apple continues to do strong business there. When it comes to Mac and iPad sales, the majority of Chinese customers buying are buying for the first time. iPad sales also increased in China. That’s to the backdrop of what Cook calls “the most competitive market in the world.” Looking forward: “We continue to be confident in the long-term opportunity in China,” said Cook. “I don’t know how every chapter of the book reads, but we’re very confident in the long-term.”

What’s happening in Europe?

Apple has already implemented changes on the App Store in Europe and is working with the European Commission to ensure full compliance with the DMA. Apple’s business in Europe doesn’t seem to have taken a hit, and the EU delivers c.7% of App Store revenue

What’s happening with Apple Intelligence?

“We will continue to make significant investments in this technology and dedicate ourselves to the innovation that will unlock its full potential,” said Cook, who also stressed Apple Intelligence will work across iPhone, iPad, and Mac. Apple has also redeployed certain skills onto AI and ML from other projects, he said.

Services – star of the show?

Services revenue reached an all-time revenue record of $24.2 billion, with paid subscriptions also hitting an all-time high, and new records in advertising, cloud, and payment services. Services growth margin was 74%, which is eye-watering profit. The number of paid subscriptions across Apple services has doubled in the last four years, reaching in excess of a billion subs.

Product highlights

While iPhone revenue fell 1%, the company explained that on a constant currency basis the company grew compared to last year. Mac revenue climbed 2%, while iPad revenue increased 24%, prompted by the M4 iPad Pro and M2 iPad Air. Black spot? Wearables, home, accessories which declined 2%. Products gross margin was 35.3%.

Installed base

Apple claimed its installed base to have reached a new record across all products and geographies.

Record breaking in many ways

iPhone was the top selling model in the US, urban China, the UK, Germany, Australia, and Japan.
June quarter records for Mac in Latin America, India, and South Asia. The Mac installed base reached an all-time high with half of MacBook Air customers in the quarter being new to Mac.
half of the customers who purchased iPads during the quarter were new to the product.
All Apple’s data centers, including those running Private Cloud Compute, operate on 100% renewable energy.