Apple posted an all-time best revenue of $124.3 billion in its fiscal Q1 2025 (the period to 28 December 2024), a 4 per cent increase year-on-year, though sales in China fell by 11.1 per cent to $18.5 billion.
Net income of $36.3 billion was down 7 per cent.
CEO Tim Cook (pictured) stated on an earnings call that China is “the most competitive market in the world”. He attributed half of the decline to channel inventory issues which restricted the availability of new hardware in the country.
The decline in China sales is the largest since Apple’s fiscal Q1 2024 (which ran to 30 December 2024), when it dropped 12.9 per cent.
Fiscal Q1 2025 was the first full three months for the sale of the iPhone 16 range. Smartphone revenue of $69.1 billion was flat.
“I think there’s a lot more to come and I could not feel more optimistic about our product pipeline.” Cook said when asked if there is room for form-factor innovation. “I think there’s a lot of a lot of innovation left on the smartphone.”
The vendor also deployed its Apple Intelligence AI software during the quarter: Cook said iPhone 16 sales were stronger in countries where the feature was available.
Currently, the software is only available in a handful of English-speaking countries, and it is not accessible in China.
Starting in April, Cook noted the software will be available across more languages, including French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, Japanese, Korean and simplified Chinese, along with localised English to Singapore and India.
The company’s services business, which includes subscriptions, warranties and licensing deals, posted revenue of $26.3 billion, up 14 per cent.
“We set all-time records in the Americas, Europe and rest of Asia-Pacific, and a December quarter record in Japan,” Cook said.
CFO Kevan Parekh, who started on 1 January, said product revenue of $98 billion was up 2 per cent, driven by growth from iPad and Mac.
Mac revenue of $9 billion was up 16 per cent and iPad increased 15 per cent to $8.1 billion.
Wearables, home and accessory sales were down 2 per cent to $11.7 billion.
