(New York) Apple saw, as expected, its growth slow down over the period from January to March, but did better than expected, with in particular record sales of iPhones for the period.
Posted at 5:32 p.m.
Revenue for the second quarter of its staggered fiscal year (October to September) reached $97.2 billion, up 9% year-on-year.
This is the first time since the quarter ended in September 2020 that Apple has posted single-digit growth.
In January, the Californian group said it expected less impressive growth than previous quarters in the first three months of 2022.
The fault, according to Apple, is an unfavorable comparison effect with the same period of 2021, marked by confinements which had boosted the use of electronic devices and digital services.
If they weigh more than half of the turnover, sales of iPhones only increased by 5.4% compared to the same period of 2021.
Geographically, it was the Americas zone that sustained growth, with a 19% increase in revenues over one year.
The group’s other areas of activity were much less dynamic, in particular Asia-Pacific excluding China and Japan, which posted a decline in sales.
Net profit was $25 billion, up 5.8%. Reported by action, an indicator followed by Wall Street, it is higher than analysts’ forecasts.
The Cuppertino (California) giant has so far managed to limit the supply problems affecting the entire electronics sector, particularly in the semiconductor industry.
In addition to the logistical tensions, the apple firm is also facing challenges to its integrated model, in particular its application store, a compulsory passage point for publishers.
Apple’s services business, which includes the App Store in particular, still maintained significantly higher growth (17%) than the group’s other businesses during the past quarter.
The Member States of the European Union, the Commission and the European Parliament reached an agreement at the end of March which aims to regulate the practices of American technology leaders.
In particular, it provides for the free choice of application stores, which will notably make it possible to circumvent the App Store.
In mid-March, a similar law came into force in South Korea, prohibiting Apple and Google from forcing developers to use their mobile application stores, in particular to receive payments from users.