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Apple sold more iPhones and iPads, and hit a new revenue high from its services, such as Apple TV+, from October through December 2020, as consumers got new devices and used them more during the coronavirus pandemic.Â
The Cupertino tech giant posted record revenue of $111.4 billion during its 2021 fiscal first quarter, Apple announced during its earnings call Wednesday. That’s a 21% increase from the same period a year ago.
The latest wave of Apple iPhones, which includes the iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro, set a new sales record for iPhones of $65.6 billion, up 17% from a year ago when revenue was $55.9 billion. Analysts had expected sales of $59.9 billion.
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Apple typically releases its new iPhones in September, but manufacturing delays resulted in the iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro, which sell for $799 and $999, arriving in October and the iPhone Mini and iPhone 12 Pro Max ($699 and $1,099) being released in November.
“The customer response to the new iPhone 12 models’ unprecedented innovation from world class cameras to the great and growing potential of 5G has been enthusiastic, even in light of  the ongoing COVID-19 impact at retail locations,” CEO Tim Cook said in a conference call with analysts.
Apple now has more than 1 billion active iPhones globally, Cook said.
Apple’s iPhone growth was “most impressive,” analyst and investor Gene Munster of Loup Ventures said on Twitter. Wall Street analysts had expected iPhone growth of perhaps 7%, he tweeted.
Subscription bring in the money
Subscription services such as Apple Music, Apple News, Apple TV, Apple iCloud and Apple Arcade, rose 6.5% to $15.8 billion, another revenue record. Subscribers have topped 620 million, up from 140 million a year ago, Apple says.
Also hitting a record: wearables and home accessors such as Apple Watch, AirPods and HomePod speakers rose 20% to $13 billion.
iPad sales rose 13% to $8.4 billion. Mac computer sales increased 21% to $8.7 billion.
“We had the strongest hardware portfolio that we’ve ever had and we have a great product pipeline for the future, both in products and in services,” Cook said. “We’re still attracting a fair number of switchers (from competitors’ devices) and, of course, upgraders.”
Apple has bolstered its services offerings over the last year or so including Apple One (launched in December, starting at $14.95 monthly), which for $29.95 bundles into a single subscription Apple Music, Apple TV+, Apple Arcade, iCloud, Apple News+ and Apple Fitness+ (a savings of $25).Â
Services “will contribute even more to the services revenue stream,” Cook said. And “we are in the early stages of those (wearables) products,” he said.
Net income of $28.8 billion surpassed the $24.1 billion estimate of analysts polled by S&P Global Market Intelligence.
Despite Apple’s success in the quarter, investors didn’t appear overly impressed. Apple shares declined 3.21% in after-hours trading to $137.50.
Wedbush Securities analyst Daniel Ives called Apple’s iPhone sales revenue “a ‘jaw dropper’Â that beat even bullish whisper expectations,” in a note to investors Wednesday. Ives set a target price for Apple of $175.
With the potential for new phone upgraders wanting 5G devices, Ives said, “Cook & Co. have the stage set for a renaissance of growth in Cupertino which looks like it should eclipse the previous iPhone record set in FY15, an achievement for the ages in our opinion.”
Follow Mike Snider on Twitter: @MikeSnider.
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