Apple profits halted after three years of record growth

Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, during a visit to a company store in New York.ANDREW KELLY (REUTERS)

Apple has seen its profits dragged down for the first time in almost four years.

The technology giant has reported this Thursday that the harsh restrictions in China to prevent a new outbreak of the coronavirus epidemic affected the distribution of its flagship product, the iPhone during the Christmas season.

This has led the company headed by Tim Cook to close 2022 with a 5% drop compared to the same period in 2021. Apple closed the year with 117.2 billion dollars.

Given the negative numbers, the CEO preferred to highlight other milestones achieved by the company.

Among these are record revenues from services, the App Store app store, the Apple Music music catalog and its digital platform, Apple TV+, which has become a major asset in times of the streaming wars.

This area has reported earnings of 20.8 billion dollars in the last quarter of 2022, the most valuable since services began to be reported in 2015.

“We continue to navigate a challenging environment, but we are proud to have our best lineup of products and services ever, while staying focused on the long term,” Cook, CEO, said Thursday.

Net profits were $30 billion, a 13% drop from last year.

The businessman also pointed out that the company dealt with an unfavorable exchange rate.

Despite this, the company's titles continued to be in the black and even registered a gain of 3.7% after the closing of the stock market and the presentation of the numbers for the closing of 2022.

Last October, the company raised its prices for its Apple Music and Apple TV+ products.

The services generated profits of $19.2 billion in the third quarter, an increase of 5% from the same period in 2021. The company, however, continues to guard the number of subscribers to streaming services with suspicion.

Analysts estimate that this is between 20 and 40 million users.

Despite this, Cook assured this Thursday that the company already has some 2,000 million active devices worldwide.

Growth and its gadgets has been especially beneficial in Asia.

India, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam are some of the countries where the presence of the apple brand increased.

In America, the CEO also mentioned the case of Brazil.

Luca Maestri, the finance director, highlighted the data despite the "difficult macroeconomic environment" and the restrictions on supply chains.

Apple has been the only big technology company that has not generated headlines for the mass layoffs of employees.

Four of the five have let go of tens of thousands of professionals in recent months, while Cook's company has been more cautious with its workforce growth and has carried out some cost cuts (Cook took a pay cut 40% for this year, for example).

It remains to be seen if the company joins the trend in the coming weeks after the negative quarter.

In Cupertino they consider that the situation in December was a pothole that has been left behind.

Apple has adjusted supply chains and Beijing's relaxation of measures to combat the coronavirus has also made things easier at the company's plant in Zhengzhou, which last November was the scene of a protest over improved conditions. labor.

Analysts believe that the company will be back on the growth path for the quarter ending in March, in which it will be able to meet the demand for the smartphone.

Others point out that the company is preparing new products, including its first foldable iPad, which could boost consumer interest.

In October, Tim Cook's firm reported a closing of the 2022 financial year with an annual profit of 99.8 billion dollars, an increase of more than 5% over the previous year.

It was the highest figure ever achieved by a private company.

In this case, it was achieved by the increase in the purchase of smartphones and laptops, work tools in the era of teleworking started by the pandemic.

The company also celebrated revenue growth of 7.8% then.

In the last quarter, however, Apple ran into a global economic chill.