Apple reported the company’s financial results for its fiscal third quarter on Thursday, exceeding market expectations to return a revenue increase of 5%.
The overall revenue figure was $85.8 billion, with quarterly earnings per diluted share standing at $1.40, up year on year by 11%.
In the aftermath of the results, Apple shares remained flat in extended trading but modest increases were predicted for the upcoming quarter and the iPhone still stands out as the Cupertino-based tech giant’s most important business line, representing 46% of sales during the quarter.
Overall iPhone sales levels were better than anticipated, despite a drop of 0.9% to $39.30 billion, beating the 2.2% decline expected by analysts.
The steady demand is supported by rising anticipation of Apple’s upcoming foray into further AI features, as outlined at its Worldwide Developers Conference in June. Those new additions will only be available on iPhone 15 models and more recent devices, piquing consumer intrigue toward sales conversions.
Apple Services delivers $24.21B in sales
“What we’ve done is we’ve redeployed a lot of people onto AI that were working on other things,” Apple CEO Tim Cook told CNBC. “Certainly embedded in our results this quarter is an increase year over year in the amount we’re spending for AI and Apple intelligence.”
He added that around half of iPad buyers are first-time buyers, suggesting the tablet market is not yet saturated.
In the company’s wearables line of business, which relates to Apple Watches and AirPods headphones, sales were down 2.3% to $8.10 billion, beating analyst estimates of $7.79 billion.
Apple’s Services division is a rapid growth channel of great importance, including various streams. Google revenue, cloud storage subs, and the company’s subscription offerings such as Apple TV are all part of Services which filed $24.21 billion in sales, up 14% and in line with company and market expectations.
Apple also disclosed that it spent $32 billion on dividends and share repurchases over the third quarter.
Image credit: Via Ideogram