Apple reported first-quarter earnings for fiscal year 2025, and the numbers exceeded analysts’ expectations. However, one distinctive blemish in the financial statement was the lower-than-anticipated sales for iPhones.
The tech company’s revenue for the three-month period that ended Dec. 28, 2024, was $124.3 billion, a 4% uptick compared to the same quarter last year. Wall Street revenue projections were slightly below, at $124.1 billion.
Apple made $36.3 billion in net income in the first quarter, a 7.1% surge compared to Q1 2024’s $33.92 billion. Gross profit margin reached a record high of 46.9%, beating the previous 46.6% reached in March 2024 and Wall Street’s estimate of 46.5%.
According to CEO Tim Cook, Q1 2025 was the “best quarter ever,” crediting the company’s impressive lineup of products and services offered during the holiday shopping season. A new iMac, MacBook Pro, and iPad Mini were all launched during the last quarter. Just measuring sales of Macs and iPads, the company’s revenue grew by over $17 billion.
Apple Saw Disappointing iPhone Sales
While iPhone sales grew in the quarter, the figure was below what analysts were expecting. The company’s flagship device brought in $69.14 billion, which is 15% better year-over-year. Yet, consensus estimates put sales just above $71 billion. Cook blamed the inconsistent rollout of Apple Intelligence AI and weaker demand in China.
In Asia, specifically China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong, sales of iPhones fell 11.1% to $18.5 billion. Apple Intelligence is yet to be offered in this market, which negatively affected sales compared to other regions where the software is already available.
“During the December quarter, we saw that in markets where we had rolled out Apple intelligence, that the year-over-year performance on the iPhone 16 family was stronger than those markets where we had not rolled out Apple intelligence,” Cook said.
Current Q2 2025 revenues will likely rise by “low to mid single digits,” according to Apple’s projected outlook. Compared to figures released for the same period last year, earnings should fall somewhere between $91.7 billion and $95.3 billion. The estimate probably doesn’t count the recent $95 million settlement Apple offered after its voice assistant Siri was caught secretly recording and sharing user conversations.
