Apple’s stock edged lower on Friday following the release of its latest earnings, as investors looked for signs that the company’s new Apple Intelligence platform might be boosting iPhone sales. The earnings revealed mixed results, with some segments outperforming expectations and others falling short.
Key Financials:
- Earnings per Share (EPS): $0.97, impacted by a one-time charge related to a European tax ruling. Excluding the charge, EPS would have been $1.64, surpassing expectations of $1.59.
- Revenue: $94.9 billion, slightly above the forecasted $94.3 billion.
- iPhone Sales: $46.2 billion, beating estimates of $45 billion.
- Services Revenue: $24.9 billion, below the anticipated $25.2 billion.
- iPad Revenue: $6.9 billion, meeting expectations of around $7 billion.
- Wearables Revenue: $9 billion, just under the expected $9.1 billion.
- Greater China Revenue: $15 billion, missing the $15.8 billion forecast.
Challenges and Outlook
Despite stronger-than-expected iPhone sales, Apple’s performance in China—a critical market—fell short amid increasing competition from Xiaomi and Huawei. Greater China revenue missed Wall Street expectations, signaling headwinds in a region that significantly influences Apple’s overall growth.
Apple Intelligence and Future Prospects
The rollout of Apple’s Intelligence platform, which currently supports only US English, could be pivotal in driving future sales. Apple plans to expand language support in the coming months, with localized English arriving in December and additional languages in April.
Apple CFO Luca Maestri discussed with Yahoo Finance the potential impact of Apple Intelligence, hinting at a shift in the typical iPhone sales cycle as more features become available. However, only the latest models—iPhone 15 Pro, 15 Pro Max, and the upcoming iPhone 16 series—support this new AI-driven platform, potentially encouraging upgrades.
The initial Apple Intelligence features are modest, but the next update, promising ChatGPT integration and Apple’s new Visual Intelligence, could generate more excitement and possibly spark a new iPhone supercycle.