Apple, the world’s leading technology company by revenue, did not meet its revenue expectations in terms of sales and profit at the end of 2022.
Sales fell in the last quarter of 2022 by five per cent, compared to the sales made in 2021. This was reported to be the first year-over-year decline in sales since 2019.
The CEO of Apple, Tim Cook, highlighted three major reasons for this drop in revenue. The first being the strength of dollar, the second is the production challenge that affected iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max. The third is the current economic environment, causing factors like inflation, employment level, national income, and international trade to affect the company’s sales.
The CEO said to Steve Kovach of CNBC, “On the third factor, I would say was just the challenging macroeconomic environment, and you’re hearing that from, I would think, everybody.”
According to BBC, he emphasised the challenge of production and shortage of supplies from China owing to the disruptions caused by Covid-19. He also added the effects of the war in Ukraine as a contributor to the drop.
On a conference call with investors, Cook said, “As the world continues to face unprecedented circumstances … we know Apple is not immune to it.”
Meanwhile, the shares of the company declined by four per cent at a particular period during the extended trading on Thursday, but rose again after an outlook data for the current quarter was provided by Apple. The data provided by the company estimates that there will not be rapid declines as it happened in the last quarter.
CNCB reported on these data points on performance provided by Apple.
According to the Chief Financial Officer, Luca Maestri, the March quarter is likely to have similar declines as the December quarter.
Meanwhile, services are estimated to grow, but iPad and Mac sales are likely to have a double decline from the early year period. Also, the sales of iPhones are expected to decline with a rate less than that of the December quarter, according to Apple.
