Apple (AAPL) has officially reported its earnings for Q1 2021, covering the lucrative holiday shopping season. For the first fiscal quarter of 2021, Apple has reported a record-breaking $111.44 billion in revenue and profit of $28.76 billion.
As always, it’s important to note that Apple no longer reports iPhone, iPad, and Mac unit sales numbers, though it does report a revenue breakdown by product category. More details below.
Apple says that iPhone, Wearables, and Services all set new revenue records. Revenue in total was up 21% year-over-year, while quarterly earnings per diluted share were up 35% to $1.68.
Apple CEO Tim Cook had the following to say about Apple’s Q1 2021 holiday performance:
CFO Luca Maestri added:
“This quarter for Apple wouldn’t have been possible without the tireless and innovative work of every Apple team member worldwide,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “We’re gratified by the enthusiastic customer response to the unmatched line of cutting-edge products that we delivered across a historic holiday season. We are also focused on how we can help the communities we’re a part of build back strongly and equitably, through efforts like our Racial Equity and Justice Initiative as well as our multi-year commitment to invest $350 billion throughout the United States.”
Yet agin, Apple is not providing guidance for Q2 2021 because of the uncertainty caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Our December quarter business performance was fueled by double-digit growth in each product category, which drove all-time revenue records in each of our geographic segments and an all-time high for our installed base of active devices,” said Luca Maestri, Apple’s CFO. “These results helped us generate record operating cash flow of $38.8 billion. We also returned over $30 billion to shareholders during the quarter as we maintain our target of reaching a net cash neutral position over time.”
AAPL Q1 2021 earnings by product
The first quarter of the fiscal year is an important one for Apple as it covers the months of October, November, and December — the most lucrative three months of the year because of holiday shopping. This year, the numbers are especially important.
Notably, Apple did not provide guidance for Q1 2021 because of the continued uncertainty around the COVID-19 pandemic. That said, analysts were expecting big numbers, with the Wall Street consensus view on revenue in the order of $103B.
For comparison’s sake, Apple reported revenue of $91.8 billion and profit of $22.2 billion during Q1 2020 last year. This time around, there are a handful of different factors. For instance, the Mac and iPad businesses have seen major growth because of the work-from-home trend driven by the pandemic.
Apple also released a new iPad Air and new M1 Macs during the quarter. The first fiscal quarter of 2021 also included the entirety of the iPhone 12 lineup being released, something that usually begins in the prior quarter and is spread across Q4 and Q1.
Apple does not report unit sales for any of its hardware products. Instead, it reports a breakdown of revenue by product category. Here are those numbers for fiscal Q1 2021:
- $65.60 billion: iPhone
- $15.76 billion: Services
- $8.68 billion: Mac
- $12.97 billion: Wearables, Home, and Accessories
- $8.44 billion: iPad
