Apple broke a string a weak quarters by announcing a 5% year-over-year increase in revenue for the June quarter Thursday, setting a new record for the quarter. iPad sales experienced an especially strong quarter, up 24%, and the company’s services sector also grew by double digits.
Apple surpassed Wall Street analysts’ revenue expectations, though iPhone sales dropped slightly when compared to the same quarter a year ago.
Apple’s financial Q3 2024 is a strong one
With the exception of one quarter, Apple experienced declining revenue every quarter since September 2022. That’s five out of six quarters of declines. So the June 2024 quarter bucks a bad trend. Prior to Thursday’s earnings call, analysts predicted that Apple would announce a good quarter, but Cupertino actually did better than expected.
The consensus was for a 3% annual increase in revenue. As noted, Apple actually achieved a 5% revenue increase, up to $85.8 billion. Quarterly earnings per diluted share in the April-through-June period came in at $1.40, up 11% year over year.
“During the quarter, our record business performance generated EPS growth of 11 percent and nearly $29 billion in operating cash flow, allowing us to return over $32 billion to shareholders,” said Luca Maestri, Apple’s CFO, in a press release announcing the results Thursday. “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.”
Chart: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac
iPad and services revenues grew sharply
Chart: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac
Part of the revenue growth came from iPad. This didn’t come as a surprise — the 2024 iPad Pro and iPad Air launched during the quarter, and new high-end tablets usually bring a rush of revenue for Apple. The tablet total last quarter was $7.2 billion.
“The iPad installed base continues to grow and is an all-time high as half of the customers who purchased iPads during the quarter where new to the product,” said Maestri during a conference call with investors after the earnings announcement.
In addition, revenue from the company’s closely watched services segment (the App Store, Apple Music, etc.) grew 14%, beating analysts’ expectations.
“We’re constantly focused on improving the breadth and quality of our services, from critically acclaimed new content on Apple TV+ to new games on Apple Arcade,” Maestri told investors on Thursday. It totaled $24.2 billion.
Mac revenue climbed 2% YOY to $7.0 billion.
iPhone sales stood out as a weak spot in Apple’s Q3 2024 financial results, with revenues down 1%. Still, that’s less of a drop than analysts feared.
The AAPL share price climbed 0.59% in after-hours trading … and after Apple’s earning’s announcement. That’s after going down 1.68% in regular trading.
Source: Apple
