back to article Apple: Good news, everyone – sales are less bad than we thought. Not amazing but not bad. $84bn is $84bn, tho

Apple managed to turn what was expected to be a terrible quarter into merely a not-so-great one as the Cupertino phone-flinger barely topped its own recently lowered estimates. As expected when CEO Tim Cook issued a warning to shareholders earlier this month, Q1 FY 2019 (PDF) revenues took a significant hit from the same …

  1. Sorry that handle is already taken. Silver badge

    That's some pretty severe inflation!

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: iPhone pricing

      Judge for yourself:

      https://www.reddit.com/r/dataisbeautiful/comments/9vak24/the_cost_of_each_iphone_at_launch_adjusted_for/

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: iPhone pricing

        the_cost_of_each_iphone_at_launch_adjusted_for/...inflation

        Problem with that approach is that inflation measures have become fairly meaningless due to statistical manipulation and negative real interest rates. I suspect a different picture would appear if adjusted for what really matters in this particular context, changes in discretionary & disposable income.

        The absolute level of disposable income varies greatly by country, but also the changes. Apple's domestic market would be hit far less hard than a low income country by (eg) rising fuel prices. ICBA to check, but I'll wager that the affordability of new iphones at launch has become steadily worse outside Apple's saturated and largely Anglophone core markets. Launching ever more expensive phones was certain to end badly in emerging markets.

      2. djstardust

        Re: iPhone pricing

        Doesn't take in to account the horrendous price for additional storage though!

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      'pretty small difference in the US compared to last year'

      Yes, it was exactly last year that prices went over $1000 and started to look really crazy.... moreover this year Apple killed the cheaper model...

  2. Malcolm Weir

    I love the spin on the idea that you weren't paying for the "subsidized" phones!

  3. MrAverage
    Stop

    Services business..?

    "Revenue in the Services business was $10.9bn, up from $9.1bn."

    What is this "Services business" that you speak of? That's a lot of service!

    Presumably repairs, Apple [Dont]Care, battery replacements?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Services business..?

      What you mentioned plus:

      - Apple Music

      - AppStore (Forbes estimates this is around 36% of services revenue)

      - Apple Pay

      - licensing (Forbes estimate this as high as 25% of services revenue for getting things like Google as the default Safari/Siri search engine)

  4. jake Silver badge

    Hmmm ...

    "it banked 20 (twenty) billion dollars in profit, from sales of $84bn."

    That's one hell of a profit margin. Still don't think you're being taken to the cleaners, fanbois?

    1. jmch Silver badge

      Re: Hmmm ...

      That's quite some margin but to be fair, they use a lot of their own components eg processors, and I hazard to guess that completely in-house revenue eg services has a higher margin that pushes up the average. Other manufacturers that outsource more components share that margin.

      I'm curious to see what margins Samsung mobile has, since they also make a lot of their own components

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Hmmm ...

        Apple says Services has a gross margin of 62.8%, compared to the overall company wide margin of 38%.

    2. werdsmith Silver badge

      Re: Hmmm ...

      "That's one hell of a profit margin. Still don't think you're being taken to the cleaners, fanbois?"

      Not really. Small price to pay to avoid Android. I'm not a fanvboy, I don't really like Apple much, but I'm forced to use them because of the dearth of choice in the market.

      And I've never paid more than half the new price for one, unlocked no contract.

      1. Aristotles slow and dimwitted horse

        Re: Hmmm ...

        Well said. I agree with this.

        Currently it's rock or a hard place with mobile phones. I absolutely refuse to have Google anywhere near such a personal device so I'll stick with my Apple handset for the time being. I'm currently using a 6S which cost me bugger all when I upgraded recently, and I won't go anywhere near the newer Apple handsets until this one breaks, and even when I do it will probably be a second hand replacement.

    3. pop_corn

      Re: Hmmm ...

      At 24% it's a GINORMOUS profit margin. Compare to say Tesco for 2018:

      Group Revenue: £57.5Bn

      Operating Profit: £1.6Bn (before exceptional items)

      Margin: 2.9%

      Source: https://www.tescoplc.com/investors/reports-results-and-presentations/financial-performance/five-year-record/

      1. jmch Silver badge

        Re: Hmmm ...

        "At 24% it's's a GINORMOUS profit margin. Compare to say Tesco for 2018:"

        Apples to Oranges comparison : margin for retailers is always very tight. Better comparison is Samsung mobile, the latest figure I can find for them is 17% margin. As I mentioned in previous post, this could be linked to making own components, most smartphone makers struggle to turn a profit

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Did Steve leave Tim a box that said "Open In Case of Emergency" containing an acid tab and a spliff because I can think of no other explanation for his crazy deluded view on sales and pricing.

    1. DCFusor

      yeah, but

      He didn't open the box. Else he'd not have been so utterly out of touch with reality. Others who have opened the box will know...

      But stay inside your cave and build all your knowledge of the world by looking at the shadows cast on the cave walls by things you can't see or imagine.

      No, I didn't think of that, some old fart named Plato did:

      https://faculty.washington.edu/smcohen/320/cave.htm

  6. AMBxx Silver badge
    Boffin

    Once upon a time

    Vodafone and the other mobile providers used to be considered 'growth stocks'. Now they're just valued as utilities as we have market saturation and there's nothing much for them to do other than more of the same.

    How long until Apple are similarly revalued?

  7. Charlie Clark Silver badge

    Expectations management at work

    Having got the market totally wrong at the last results call, Apple did the decent (and by the SEC required thing) by telling investors early that numbers were going to be down. So by the time they came to report the market had already priced in the reduced forecast. Would have been a shock if results had varied significantly from the reduced forecast but you can expect Apple did everything necessary to make sure they didn't.

    And there's still a lot to like: margins are up and other divisions made more money than expected. The "wearables" section is interesting because it looks like Apple really is making money where nobody else can. Millions of people still love what they produce (they own the high-end tablet market) and don't mind the walled garden. And yet… there's no doubt that they're nervous about the much vaunted halo effect going into reverse. Expect plans designed to keep the sheep in the Apple fold with upgrade offers. And they have to hope that nobody else comes up with something really new.

  8. herman Silver badge

    Hmm, I use an Apple phone because it works and keeps working. I had several phones over the years past and only ONE Apple iPhone, which I've been using since time immemorial. It is expensive, but it is good quality and it works.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Hmm, kind of like my 3 1/2 year old unlocked Windows Phone that cost $147 including tax and shipping. Although I have to admit it doesn't just keep working - I had to replace the battery a year ago when it no longer lasted a full day. That's $12 and 15 minutes of my time I'll never get back.

  9. Gene Cash Silver badge

    More and more...

    The "Cupertino idiot-tax operation..."

  10. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    No new $1,000 or more iPhone for me

    At my phone upgrade, last spring, I wasn't motivated to spend a grand for a new phone and refuse to lease a phone, so the best option for me was a reconditioned iPhone 7+. I paid $400 for that and I OWN it. As the iPhone XR wasn't moving, I kept receiving e-mails from Apple trying to convince me to pay $450 for an iPhone XR. Didn't need one and wasn't motivated to buy one. Feel the same about the newer Macs. There are plenty of re-conditioned Macs out there that will get the job done for me, so that is what I will upgrade my aging first generation Mac Pro Workstation to, on MY upgrade schedule, NOT Apple's. Let all of the entranced, make Apple Rich. Their re-conditioned tech is just fine with me. I'll be using mine until it dies and replace it, for less. :-)

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