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| Apple warns of iPhone and iPad sales |
Apple announces strong earnings for the third fiscal quarter. All of the company's major product lines grew by more than 12% year on year.
Overall, sales increased 36% compared to the June quarter of the previous year. iPhone sales increased nearly 50% each year, to $39.57 billion.
It was followed by the March quarter, which saw iPhone sales jump 65.5% annually, while holiday quarter sales rose 17% to $65.6 billion.
The release of the iPhone 12 last year spurred iPhone growth, the first major overhaul of the device since 2017.
CEO Tim Cook said that current iPhone consumers are transitioning to the first 5G iPhone and many people are switching from Android phones to Apple.
The company's revenue was $81.41 billion, an increase of 36% over the previous year. Services revenue was $17.48 billion, with an average annual growth rate of 33%.
Other product sales were $8.76 billion, an increase of 40% over the previous year. Mac sales reached $8.24 billion, an increase of 16% year over year.
iPad sales reached $7.37 billion, an increase of 12% year-over-year. The company's performance was strong in the Greater China region, particularly in Taiwan, Hong Kong and China.
Apple sales in the region were $14.76 billion, an increase of 58% over the same period last year. Sales in America increased nearly 33% year-over-year to $39.57 billion.
Apple warns of a shortage of chips
Apple now faces a problem that affects everyone from game console manufacturers to car manufacturers to PC manufacturers.
The problem is the industry-wide shortage of chips and other components. Apple's CEO has warned that delivery bottlenecks are affecting iPhone and iPad sales.
These are not the high-performance processors that Apple makes for its hardware, but what are known as traditional nodes, or chips that perform everyday functions and can use older hardware, Cook said.
"We also have some shortcomings," he added. The order here is so large, and therefore beyond our own expectations, that it is difficult to obtain a complete set of parts within the delivery time we are seeking.
Apple has warned that the company will face supply bottlenecks during the quarter ending in June. But this flaw affected the iPad and Mac, not the company's flagship product.
Apple said in April that delivery restrictions could cut sales from $300 billion to $4 billion. However, Cook said the company was able to reduce the impact to levels below expectations.
The company did not specify the exact extent of how the component shortages will affect the September quarter. However, Chief Financial Officer Luca Maestri said the company expects the impact to be greater than it was in the June quarter.
The iPhone shortage will not shake Apple. But awareness and the impact of shortages means that even a company like Apple — with its supply chain, purchasing power and suppliers — can struggle to get the parts it needs to meet demand in the event of a global shortage.