After the press release with the exact data on the performance in the past quarter, there is, as always, a press conference in which Tim Cook and CFO Kevan Parekh discuss the numbers in more detail. Anyone who has connected by telephone can also direct questions to the two Apple representatives. For Tim Cook, it is the penultimate event of this kind. There will be another quarterly press conference next July, but the figures for October will already fall during the term of office of the new CEO John Ternus. However, it remains to be seen whether he will lead the event in the same way as Tim Cook always did – Steve Jobs, for example, usually did not take part in the press conferences back then, but left it to Cook.
- The conference call has now begun – and as usual, Tim Cook takes over the introduction
- But the new Apple CEO John Ternus, who will take office in September, also says a few words to investors after Cook
- First, Cook spoke about the new CEO in his 89th quarterly conference: The timing of the handover is right – the numbers are strong and they have found the perfect successor candidate in Ternus.
- Cook would also like to thank the shareholders at this point – especially those who have been invested in Apple for a long time and believe in the company
- Now Ternus speaks: Cook is one of the best CEOs in the world – and it is an honor to follow in his footsteps and enjoy his trust
- Ternus and Cook emphasized several times that Apple has a very promising product roadmap
- Apple’s sales grew by 17 percent compared to the same quarter last year – even though Apple is struggling with delivery problems
- iPhone sales growth comes from significantly greater than expected customer demand
- Cook touts the MacBook Neo as a new way to drive customers to the Mac
- Mac sales grew by 6 percent compared to the same quarter last year – but the MacBook Neo only came onto the market in the last two weeks of the quarter and is only expected to be reflected in the sales figures in the current quarter
- Apple was able to record sales growth of 8 percent for the iPad compared to the same quarter of the previous year
- With wearables (such as Apple Watch, AirPods), home and accessories, Apple achieved sales of 7.9 billion dollars – a growth of 5 percent compared to the same quarter of the previous year
- Cook seems to be quite sure that the new version of Siri based on Google Gemini will come onto the market this year, because the current CEO is announcing the new generation for this year
- Cook repeatedly emphasizes the AI capabilities of its own platforms, although Apple Intelligence is currently lagging behind the solutions of other companies
- Apple generated a whopping $31 billion in services sales in the last quarter – an absolute record
- All Apple products now use no plastic in their packaging
- Tim Cook can also announce a new record for the Apple retail stores, as Apple stores have never achieved more sales
- Cook announces that it will bring parts of Mac mini production to the USA this year – by significantly expanding the existing production facilities in Houston
- A total of 2.5 billion Apple devices are currently being actively used – also a new record
- In the current quarter, Apple benefited from fluctuations in the currency market. However, Apple CFO Kevan Parekh notes that the delivery difficulties were more significant and that even better figures could have been announced if the currency market had not changed but all products had been available
- Across all products and services, Apple achieved a margin of 49.3 percent (increased by 1.1 percentage points)
- If you only look at hardware, the margin was 38.7 percent – falling by 2 percentage points year-on-year. This is probably due to rising component prices
- Apple expects growth of 14 to 17 percent in the current quarter compared to the same quarter last year. However, this estimate is based on the assumption that the global economy will not slow down.
- CFO Parekh announces that Apple is no longer aiming to keep cash as low as possible. Apple has already reduced its cash assets by $100 billion since 2018. Apple currently has $147 billion in cash – and it has debts of $85 billion
- In the past quarter, Apple bought back its own shares for $11 billion – and paid out $3.8 billion to investors as dividends
- Cook says demand for the new, affordable MacBook Neo has exceeded internal forecasts
- Some models of the Mac mini and Mac Studio are currently not available – and Cook addresses the situation a little: Components such as the processors are difficult to deliver – and since the Mac mini and the Mac Studio are often used for AI tasks, demand is unexpectedly high. It could take months until the delivery situation improves.
- Regarding the new approach to cash assets, Cook explains that they are now looking at cash and debt separately – but will continue to allow some of the excess assets to benefit shareholders, either through dividends or through share buybacks in the market
- Since the start of the share buyback program, Apple has purchased its own shares on the market for over $850 billion
- Regarding the MacBook Neo, Cook explains: They significantly underestimated the enthusiastic customer demand for the new model, although they had already expected high demand
- The MacBook Neo is aimed at two groups of customers: buyers who have never owned a Mac before – but also customers who have been using their Mac for a long time but have not switched to a new model
- In the current quarter, Apple does not expect memory prices to have a significant impact on its business figures – but in the second half of the year, the increased component prices could have a significant impact on the margin
- An analyst asked what advice Cook gave Ternus about the transition: Cook replied that Ternus should think carefully about how he spends his time as CEO – because the most important thing here is to choose the area in which the company and customers benefit the most.
- The current delivery difficulties are not mainly due to RAM, but rather to problems in the production of the main processors using the most modern manufacturing processes. Apple clearly underestimated customer demand here. Apple cannot currently estimate when the delivery difficulties will be overcome.
- Apple is currently satisfied with its cooperation with Google regarding AI – but is also on the right track with its own internal developments
The quarterly conference has now ended
