Apple has made a lot of substantial tweaks to its product line up the last two years or so, and it appears to be making the right moves here. The company just reported its results for the quarter ending in September, and Apple made 29 percent more revenue than a year ago — that's $83.4 billion, for those keeping track.
As usual, the iPhone led the way. iPhone sales made up almost 47 percent of Apple's total revenue, and iPhone revenue of $38.9 billion was up 47 percent year over year. But it's worth remembering that last year, the iPhone 12 series was delayed and didn't go on sale until October (or November, in the case of the iPhone 12 mini and iPhone 12 Pro Max). This year, all four iPhone 13 models went on sale simultaneously, in mid-September. While that's only a few weeks of the quarter, it likely helped fuel that massive growth.
The iPad, too, had a strong quarter. While revenue of $8.25 billion makes it the smallest of Apple's five main product categories (iPhone, iPad, Mac, Services, and "Wearables, Home, and Accessories") the iPad category grew 21 percent year over year. The Mac, on the other hand, was flat — revenue of $9.2 billion was only up two percent — but that was just enough for Apple to say it was a new all-time high for the Mac.
Apple's Services business has been growing steadily for years, so it's not surprising that this quarter's revenue of $18.3 billion was an all-time high, as well. But for the Mac, it's interesting to see it hit that high-water mark without new MacBook Pro models on the market to help move the needle. Now that the new MacBook Pro has been announced, it'll be worth seeing how it affects Mac revenue overall next quarter.
The wearables, home, and accessories group also grew in strong but not spectacular fashion (up 12 percent). But just like with the Mac, next quarter could be huge for that segment — the new Apple Watch Series 7 and third-generation AirPods just went on sale and it's easy to imagine those products making a big impact.
As usual, Apple is holding a call with investors at 5PM ET, and we'll be listening in to see if CEO Tim Cook has anything of note to share this quarter.