Apple announced its third-quarter earnings for 2023, and the results were a bit mixed. Overall, the company exceeded the expectations of analysts who predicted a worse performance. However, hardware revenue declined compared to the previous year. Almost all of Apple’s hardware product categories saw reduced sales in this quarter compared to the same quarter in 2022. Sales of iPhones and other products decreased.
Sales of all products, including the iPhone, fell!
According to the report released by Apple, iPhone revenue declined by 2% to $39.67 billion. Mac revenue dropped by 7% to $6.84 billion. The iPad experienced the most significant decline percentage-wise, with sales falling by 20% to $5.79 billion. Apple’s CEO, Tim Cook, attributed this significant drop in iPad sales to the fact that last year during this period, there was a major iPad Air launch, which created more excitement and demand compared to this quarter.
The decline in Mac revenue might be part of a larger trend in the PC market. Consumers had upgraded their devices during the frenzy caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, and most are currently satisfied with what they have.
The only growing hardware category was Apple’s “Other Products,” mainly consisting of wearable products like Apple Watch and AirPods. Other Products grew by 2% year over year, reaching $8.28 billion in revenue.
Despite the challenging period for hardware sales, the bright spot in the earnings report was the growth in services, including Apple Music, Apple TV+, AppleCare, Fitness+, and others. These services grew by 8% year over year, and compared to the same quarter in 2021, the segment grew by 5.5%. This indicates an accelerated growth, which is a positive sign for Apple’s efforts to increase revenue from subscribed customers. Cook mentioned that there are over 1 billion paying users for various subscription services, representing an increase of 150 million compared to the same period last year.
