The end of the year is just around the corner for most of us, but for Apple’s fiscal calendar, it is already in the rear-view mirror. Apple recently finished its 2021 fiscal fourth quarter, which ran from June 27, 2021, to September 25, 2021. A few days ago, Apple released the results for its 2021 fiscal fourth quarter and held a call with analysts to discuss the results. Apple’s fiscal fourth quarter is typically a transitional quarter; it is the first fiscal quarter — the one that we are in now — that is traditionally Apple’s big revenue quarter because of holiday sales. But with COVID, labor shortages, material shortages, and more, very little is predictable right now. For example, while Apple announced record fourth quarter revenue of $83.4 billion, up 29 percent year over year, Apple was still a little short of what some analysts predicted. But as always, I’m not all that interested in the financial details; what interests me is that this is one of four times a year when Apple answers questions from a bunch of analysts, so I’m always curious to see what Apple has to say about the iPhone and iPad and related technologies. If you want to get all of the nitty-gritty details, you can listen to the audio from the announcement conference call on the Apple website, or you can read a transcript of the call prepared by Jason Snell of Six Colors. Apple’s official press release is here. Here are the items that stood out to me.
iPhone
- iPhone revenue for the quarter was $38.87 billion, which is an impressive 47% higher than it was a year ago.
- When discussing initiatives to protect the environment, Cook noted that the antenna on iPhone 13 is made of recycled plastic water bottles, and this is the first time that anyone in the industry has done that.
- iPhone customer satisfaction is reported to be 98%.
- There are more iPhones in active use right now than ever before in history.
- Cook said that iPhone and iPad supply could not keep up with demand in 2021 Q4 for two reasons. First, there have been chip shortages affecting the entire industry. Second, there have been COVID-related manufacturing disruptions in Southeast Asia.
- To give you some context for the increase in iPhone revenue this past quarter, here is a chart showing the year-over-year percentage change since fiscal 2013 Q1, which is when Apple started reporting this type of revenue in this form. As you can see in this chart, Apple has had impressive iPhone revenue growth throughout 2021. You have to go back to 2014-2015 to see revenue jumps like this, and of course, the iPhone is much bigger now than it was then.
iPad
- iPad revenue was $8.252 million in 2021 Q4, which was up 21% from 2020 Q4.
- Cook said: “Customers are loving the ninth generation iPad, which features a beautifully sharp display and twice the storage of the previous generation, as well as the new iPad mini with its ultra portable design and impressive speed and performance.”
- Here is a chart to show the year-over-year percentage change in iPad revenue since fiscal 2013 Q1, which is when Apple started reporting this type of revenue in this form. As you can see, this is the sixth quarter in a row in which Apple’s iPad revenue has been higher than the same fiscal quarter in the prior year.
Other
- This was Apple’s best-ever fiscal fourth quarter in the wearables, home, and accessories category of products with $8.785 in revenue, up 12% from this time last year.
- Cook noted that Apple TV+ won 11 Emmys this year, including the award for outstanding comedy series for Ted Lasso.
- There is now an Apple Store in the Bronx, which means Apple is now in all five boroughs of New York City.