Apple's quarterly earnings bitten into by EU's $10 billion fine
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The news: Apple narrowly beat analyst expectations when it handed down earnings for the three months ending September 30, but despite revenue growth of about 5% its profits were eaten into thanks to a hefty fine imposed by the European Union.
The numbers: Apple generated sales of USD94.9 billion ($144.20 billion) for the quarter, up from USD89.9 billion during the same quarter last year. Its earnings-per-share of USD1.64 beat analyst expectations of USD1.60.
Just under half of that, USD46.2 billion, came from iPhone sales. The second biggest contributor to Apple's bottom line was its Services sector, which includes the App Store and subscriptions like Apple TV+, which brought in USD24.9 billion.
But despite both the iPhone and services bringing in a few billion more than they did during the same period last year, Apple's net income fell over 30% to USD14.7 billion. That was thanks to a USD10.2 billion fine imposed on Apple by the EU over the way it did (and didn't) pay tax in Ireland.
The context: These results are the last ones Apple will hand down in its pre-generative AI era. Its next earnings will encompass the launch of the iPhone 16 family, which has been marketed on its ability to run Apple Intelligence, a suite of AI tools that just this week became available in the US.
What they said: “Our record business performance during the September quarter drove nearly $27 billion in operating cash flow, allowing us to return over $29 billion to our shareholders,” said Apple CFO Luca Maestri. “We are very pleased that our active installed base of devices reached a new all-time high across all products and all geographic segments, thanks to our high levels of customer satisfaction and loyalty.”
The source: Apple
