Despite tariffs and other headwinds, Apple Inc. broke records in the fiscal first quarter of 2020, according to chief executive officer Tim Cook.
The gains were fueled largely by the iPhone 11 and 11 Pro. But traction in segments like wearables helped take things over the top.
The Cupertino, Calif.-based tech company reported revenue of $91.8 billion, easily besting analyst projections of $88.37 billion and trouncing revenue from the year-ago quarter of $84.3 billion by 9 percent. Earnings per share clocked in at $4.99, topping analysts’ expectation of $4.55 and soaring over EPS of $4.18 from the previous year’s quarter.
Apple posted record profit at $22.24 billion, roughly a 10 percent boost above any previous quarter.
Certainly the iPhone, which raked in revenue of $55.96 billion, had a lot to do with Apple’s bottom line. But it was also hard to miss the fact that the company’s accessories category has become a bona fide business, nabbing $10 billion over the quarter for the first time.
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“We had another incredible quarter setting an all-time record in virtually every market we track around the world and [wearables] is now the size of a Fortune 150 Company,” he told investors during the company’s fiscal first-quarter call on Tuesday afternoon.
Apple’s wearables effort encompasses more than just watches. The segment benefited from the popularity of the latest, active noise-canceling AirPods Pro, for instance.
The company doesn’t break down hard numbers between its earbuds, watch and other devices in its aggregate wearables, home and accessories business. But according to Cook, wearables — as a segment of the category — grew 44 percent, and the Apple Watch, he said, set an all-time revenue record during the quarter.
“Both Apple Watch and AirPods did very well in terms of collecting new customers,” he added. “[With] Apple Watch in particular, 75 percent of the customers are new to the Apple Watch, and so it’s still very much selling to new customers at this point.”
The other primary point of interest on a call with analysts was the looming question of when the company would unveil a 5G iPhone, which refers to an Apple handset that works over super-speedy, next-generation cellular connectivity.
Cook declined to talk about future products, but suggested that the hype around 5G was getting ahead of reality. “With respect to 5G I think we’re in the early innings of its deployment on a global basis,” he said.