Apple, the world’s most valuable tech company, reported record revenue for a September quarter — but its stock fell after sales fell short of expectations.
The company reported posted $83.4 billion in revenue, up 29% year over year, and net income of $20.6 billion (or quarterly earnings per diluted share of $1.24). Wall Street analysts on average had pegged Apple revenue to come in at $84.85 billion and EPS at $1.24.
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Apple CEO Tim Cook emphasized the company’s latest products — as it has its fingers crossed for a healthy year-end holiday quarter. “This year we launched our most powerful products ever, from M1-powered Macs to an iPhone 13 lineup that is setting a new standard for performance and empowering our customers to create and connect in new ways,” Cook said.
Revenue in Apple’s Services segment, which includes the App Store, Apple Music and Apple TV Plus, grew by 26%, to reach $18.28 billion for the quarter.
During the September quarter, Apple returned more than $24 billion to shareholders, “as we continue to make progress toward our goal of reaching a net cash neutral position over time,” CFO Luca Maestri said in a statement.
The results for the September 2021 quarter come after the company had warned that sales growth would slow down from the prior quarter due to supply-chain constraints for iPhone and iPad.
Last month, Apple unveiled the iPhone 13, the next generation of smartphones with an option for up to 1 terabyte of on-board storage on the high end of the line and multiple enhanced camera features. The iPhone 13 models went on sale Sept. 24, at the tail end of Apple’s fiscal Q4 2021.
