Sales of Apple devices soared in the last three months of 2020, the company’s financial results have revealed.
The company released its financial results for its fiscal 2021 first quarter ended 26 December 2020, reporting record revenue of $111.4bn, a 29% increase year-on-year. International sales accounted for 64% of the quarter’s revenue.
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Total sales for the quarter amounted to $111.4bn, up 21% year-on-year, with iPhone, iPad, Mac and wearable sales all growing during the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. Sales were also boosted by the holiday period and the release of the new iPhone 12 will have also contributed to this.
“This quarter for Apple wouldn’t have been possible without the tireless and innovative work of every Apple team member worldwide,” said Apple CEO Tim Cook. “We’re gratified by the enthusiastic customer response to the unmatched line of cutting-edge products that we delivered across a historic holiday season.”
The smartphone industry has experienced a slowdown of sales in recent years, with global smartphone sales declining by 5.7% in the third quarter of 2020, according to Gartner. This has been attributed in part to consumers generally waiting longer before upgrading their devices.
Apple has not been immune to its struggle, with iPhone sales dropping by 17% year-on-year during Q2 of 2020.
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By GlobalDataHowever, this was in part due to supply issues during the early stages of the pandemic. The rollout of 5G is also expected to provide a tailwind to iPhone sales as the technology becomes more established.
“Our December quarter business performance was fuelled by double-digit growth in each product category, which drove all-time revenue records in each of our geographic segments and an all-time high for our installed base of active devices,” said Luca Maestri, Apple’s CFO.
“These results helped us generate record operating cash flow of $38.8 billion. We also returned over $30 billion to shareholders during the quarter as we maintain our target of reaching a net cash neutral position over time.”
Read More: Global smartphone sales drop by 5.7% in Q3.
