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Apple (APPL) helped kick off Big Tech’s earnings season on Thursday with its best quarter in history.
Revenue came in at $123.95 billion, an 11% jump over last year’s Q1 revenue, which itself was a record at the time.
To top it off, the company continues to dominate in one of its most important markets: China. Revenue in the region, Apple’s third largest, jumped 20% on the strength of iPhone 13 sales.
Yes, part of that likely stems from the fall of China’s Huawei, which has been cut off from everything from chips to the Android operating system due to U.S. intervention. It’s a massive boon for Apple nonetheless. What’s more, the company managed all of this despite the continuing global chip shortage.
And analysts say the ride isn’t over for the iPhone maker. It still has two new product categories reportedly coming down the pike: a VR/AR headset and the long-rumored Apple car. With those new categories plus a slew of new iPhones and Macs set to land this year, Apple could be on track for one of its best years ever.
“They beat a lot, and imagine if they didn’t have the supply constraints,” Citi managing director in equity research Jim Suva told Yahoo Finance Live. “[It’s] scary in a good way of how much demand is out there for the Apple products.”
Apple’s iPhone continues to drive the company
Of course, Apple’s iPhone line generated most of its revenue last quarter. The phones raked in an incredible $71.6 billion in revenue, a 9% jump over Q1 2021. That works out to 57.7% of Apple’s total quarterly revenue.
That revenue came in despite Apple having to contend with the global chip shortage, which dinged sales of its iPad in the quarter.
“We would characterize this quarter as a ‘stunner’ on iPhone/Services demand and Cupertino's ability to navigate a supply chain shortage in almost Teflon-like fashion,” Wedbush analyst Dan Ives wrote in an investor note.
And the company is expected to launch a 5G-capable iPhone SE sometime in March or April, Bloomberg reports. That device should have a starting price lower than the iPhone 13 mini, which is priced at $699, helping to bring in consumers who want to get into the Apple ecosystem without breaking the bank. For reference, the current iPhone SE sells for $399.
With news that Apple could soon allow the iPhone to receive contactless credit card payments in the coming months, a potentially massive blow to the likes of Block’s Square (SQ), the company could see even greater interest from small and medium businesses.
Couple that with its small and medium business outreach, which includes special pricing on the company’s collection of business-ready apps and customer support, and the iPhone looks to be set for a strong 2022. And that’s without including Apple’s iPhone 13 successor, which will likely be announced sometime in September.