Month: November 2024

A few days ago, Apple released the results for its 2024 fiscal fourth quarter (which ran from June 30, 2024, to September 28, 2024) and held a call with analysts to discuss the results. The fiscal fourth quarter is typically a less important quarter for Apple. The fiscal quarter that we are in right now—the first fiscal quarter of the new fiscal year—is the one that is typically Apple’s big revenue quarter because of holiday sales. Apple’s 2024 Q4 was also unusual this year because Apple accounted for a one-time charge of $10.2 billion resulting from a long-running tax case that Apple lost in the European Union relating to Ireland. But Apple is such a big company now that it can pay someone $10 billion and still have a profitable quarter. Revenue was $94.9 billion, which is an all-time record for Apple’s fiscal fourth quarter and up substantially from $89.5 billion this time last year. 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

• Apple’s iPhone revenue for the quarter was a record $46.2 billion, up 6% from this time last year. Apple CEO Tim Cook said that this was a result of sales growth in every part of the world where Apple sells iPhones.
• Apple CFO Luca Maestri—who appeared for the last time on an earnings call because he is transitioning to another role as he prepares for retirement after a decade in this position—noted that the number of active iPhones reached an all-time high this quarter.
• iPhone revenue was 49% of all Apple revenue this quarter, which is consistent with the last few years.

iPad

• Apple’s iPad revenue for the quarter was $7 billion, up from $6.4 billion this time last year and only slightly down from $7.2 billion this time two years ago. $7 billion in iPad sales is a great number for Apple. As I mentioned three months ago, it is pretty rare for Apple to have a quarter with over $7 billion in iPad sales and when that does happen, it is often during a fiscal first quarter where there are holiday sales. To reach $7 billion, and to do so in the months of July, August, and September where there are no special reasons for higher-than-normal iPad sales is pretty impressive.
• Well over 50% of people buying an iPad are buying their first iPad.
• iPad revenue was 7% of all Apple revenue—pretty close to Apple’s Mac revenue, which was 8%.

Other

• Cook mentioned that the Apple Vision Pro Vision Pro now has more than 2,500 native spatial apps and is compatible with over 1.5 million iPad apps.
• AI is a big focus for Apple right now, so of course Cook finished his prepared remarks by discussing this technology: “As we close out the year, we have the best lineup we’ve ever had going into the holiday season, including Apple Intelligence, which marks the start of a new chapter for our products. This is just the beginning of what we believe generative AI can do, and I couldn’t be more excited for what’s to come.” Cook also noted that iOS 18.1 adoption is twice as fast as iOS 17.1 adoption, presumably because of customer interest in AI.
• Services, which is a subset of Apple’s revenue that includes everything from the App Store to Apple TV+, saw an all-time record of $25 billion, up 12% year-over-year.
• Apple noted that the quarter marked the 10-year anniversary of Apple Pay and the 5-year anniversary of the Apple Card. Maestri noted that the Apple Card was ranked #1 in customer satisfaction among co-branded credit cards by JD Power for the fourth year in a row.
• Cook noted that the emails he has been getting from people taking advantage of the new feature to use AirPods Pro 2 to run a hearing test and act as a hearing aid are “staggering and heartwarming.”
• Over 75% of people purchasing an Apple Watch are purchasing their first Apple Watch.

There were so many announcements and releases from Apple this past week, and as a result, boy is there a lot to talk about in this week’s episode of the In the News podcast. We start by discussing the new Mac announcements, especially the very interesting M4 Mac mini. Next, we discuss our initial experiences with Apple Intelligence in iOS 18.1. (When discussing the new Apple Intelligence features in Photos, I compared what Apple is doing to the iPad app from Pixelmator, and I was surprised to hear right after we finished recording that Apple is purchasing Pixelmator.) We also discuss the ability in iOS 18.1 to conduct a hearing test and to make AirPod Pros 2 work as a hearing aid, and more.

In our In the Know segment, Brett and I each have a similar tip about Apple Intelligence and notifications, except that we come at the tip from exact opposite directions.

Click here to listen to the audio podcast, or just listen using your podcast player of choice. You can also watch the episode on YouTube:

Have you heard the good news? With iOS 18.1 now released, you can now use AirPods Pro 2 to check your hearing. I tested my hearing this week, and my iPhone concluded that my hearing was fine. My wife might sometimes disagree [insert rim shot here]. On the other hand, former practicing attorney John Voorhees of MacStories ran the test and learned that he had some minor hearing loss. Next, he used the AirPods as a hearing aid, and he says that it made a big difference. I’ve heard others say that if you already have expensive ($1000+ hearing aids), those are probably better. That makes sense. But for the countless people who have hearing issues but haven’t yet done anything about it, they now have easy access to a solution—perhaps using devices that they already own—that may noticeably improve their lives. And now, the news of note from the past week:

• Apple updated many of its computers this week to add a super-fast M4 processor, more RAM, and more. I especially enjoyed the write-ups from Jason Snell and Dan Moren of Six Colors with their thoughts on the M4 Mac mini, the M4 MacBook Pro, and the M4 iMac. My home computer is an M2 Pro Mac mini, so I certainly don’t need a new Mac mini, but as Dan More points out, that doesn’t make the new Mac mini any less tempting.
• If you are interested in an iPad instead of a Mac, Apple released the iPad Air (M2) just a few months ago, and I think that it is the best iPad for most professional users. Unless you want a luxury iPad or you have specific reasons to use a top-of-the-line model (in which case, get the iPad Pro), the iPad Air is perfect. And Amazon is running a substantial iPad sale right now, with some models selling for under $500.
• I noted earlier this week that one of the useful new AI features in iOS 18.1 is Clean Up for Photos. But is it ethical to use it? In an article for Six Colors, Joe Rosensteel explains why you can use it with a clear conscience.
• There has been a lot of talk about what you can do with Apple Intelligence in the new iOS 18.1. But what if your device doesn’t support Apple Intelligence? Juli Clover runs down what else you get in iOS 18.1, such as the ability to record phone calls.
• Ryan Christoffel of 9to5Mac discusses changes in Apple Music in iOS 18.1.
• In the upcoming iOS 18.2, if you cannot find the perfect Emoji to use, you can just use AI to create one that matches the style of other Apple Emoji with the Genmoji feature. Nick deCourville of The Mac Observer provides some humorous examples.
• Allison Sheridan of Podfeet Podcasts discusses the pros and cons of the Apple Notes app.
• John Voorhees of MacStories notes that Apple has made a minor update to the Magic Keyboard, Magic Mouse, and Magic Trackpad to add support for USB-C. I regularly use a Magic Keyboard and a Magic Trackpad with my iPad and my Vision Pro, and it is a little annoying that I still need to use Lightning to charge them. I wish Apple had added even more new features to these accessories, but adding USB-C is better than nothing I suppose.
• Voorhees also weighs in on Apple Intelligence in iOS 18.1, concluding that it is somewhat of a mixed bag. I agree with that assessment.
• Bradley Chambers of 9to5Mac recommends the THIRDREALITY Smart Color Night Light if you are looking for a HomeKit-compatible night light. It is $29.99 on Amazon.
• Roderick Scott of Wirecutter recommends iPhone cases for the iPhone 16 line of devices.
• I very much enjoyed the first season of Presumed Innocent on Apple TV+, which tracked the book by Scott Turow. David Snow of Cult of Mac reports that while there will be a second season, it will feature a new female lead as the star and a new story, an adaptation of the upcoming book Dissection of a Murder by Jo Murray. Interesting. By making this more of an anthology, Apple TV+ could have an unlimited number of seasons of this legal thriller, and that sounds great to me.
• And finally, here is a new video from Apple that shows, in a comedic fashion, how quickly you can use Apple Intelligence to create a Memory Movie. I see that Scott McNalty called this ad “smug and gross” but I think it is cute. And I can confirm from the ones that I made this week that you really can create an AI Memory Movie very quickly.