According to a study released by tech company Apple on Thursday, sales of the iPhone reached a record high in the last three months of the previous year.
owing to significant increase in sales in China, Europe, the Americas, and Japan, revenue increased by 16% from the same period last year to $144 billion (£82.5 billion), the largest gain since 2021.
Sales in other areas of the business, however, were not as good.
Accessories and wearables, such as the Apple Watch and AirPods, decreased by about 3%. Mac computer sales have decreased by slightly more than 7%.
Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple, stated that the company was in “supply chase mode” due to the increase in sales of the iPhone.
During a call with financial analysts, Cook stated, “We’re currently constrained to meet a very high level of customer demand.”
He noted that sales in India set a quarterly record for the region and that demand for the iPhone 17 “exceeded our expectations, to say the least.”
Cook declined to provide any information regarding a newly disclosed collaboration with Google, wherein future Apple AI models and enhancements to its Siri capability will be based on the latter company’s Gemini artificial intelligence (AI) product.
According to Emarketer analyst Jacob Bourne, the company’s ability to maintain its leadership in the smartphone market is “perhaps more uncertain than ever.”
In order to provide Siri enhancements that make consumer speech AI relevant, smooth, and profitable, it must maximize its Google Gemini alliance, according to Bourne.
Apple and Google have a different search arrangement in which Google essentially supplies Apple Safari’s search engine functionality.
AI vs. hardware
Apple aims to spend $16bn in the 2018 fiscal year on further build-out of its business, including retail outlets and infrastructure.
Apple’s capital expenditures are modest when compared to a company like Microsoft, which spent almost $37 billion in its most recent quarter alone, mostly on AI programs.
The amount of money Microsoft is spending on AI without a corresponding increase in income has alarmed Wall Street investors.
The company’s stock dropped 10% in Thursday trade following the release of its quarterly results on Wednesday, marking the largest single-day decline since 2020.
