Apple just experienced the biggest holiday quarter in its history

Neither a global pandemic nor a supply chain crisis can stop Apple, according to the company’s Q1 2022 earnings report. A report released today showed that Apple has again broken many of its sales records, generating $123.9 billion in total revenue and $34.6 billion in profit.

The cameras and battery life seemed to resonate with buyers. iPhone revenue for the quarter was $71.63 billion, up 9 percent from last year. In addition, Apple set a new record for smartphone market share in China’s critical market: 23 percent. This made the company the top-selling smartphone brand in the country for the first time in years.

Apple’s service divisions (such as Apple Music, Apple TV+ and iCloud) have been the focus of expansion in recent years, and this expansion continues to pay off. Services revenue rose 24% to $19.52 billion in the first quarter. Apple says it has 785 million paid subscribers across all of its services. This is 165 million more than last year.

Mac revenue is up 25 percent year-over-year to $10.85 billion. This growth is mainly due to consumer interest in M1-based models, which offer significantly better performance and power efficiency than previous Macs with Intel processors. On the other hand, the iPad fell 14 percent compared to the same quarter last year.

The company’s overall category, which includes other products such as wearables and accessories, rose to $14.7 billion, driven primarily by Apple Watch and AirPods sales.

All of these gains have been made despite the ongoing pandemic and, perhaps more importantly in this case, serious supply issues. For example, supply chain restrictions have resulted in exceptionally long wait times for a new MacBook Pro. But Apple hasn’t been hit as hard by these problems as many other companies, in part because it has been able to use its size and success to ensure that vendors prioritize the components needed for its products.

However, Apple estimates that it lost $6 billion in sales due to supply restrictions. Speaking to The Wall Street Journal, Apple CEO Tim Cook said that Apple expects supply issues to ease in the next quarter.

Apple continues to give investors no guidance on how it expects the next quarter, contrary to Wall Street norms. The company stopped doing this in the spring of 2020, citing various pandemic-related uncertainties, and has yet to say anything about when it might return to the practice.

As Apple continues to ship more and more iPhones, Macs and wearables, its main concern in the near future will be regulation. Apple, like many other big tech companies, faces significant government scrutiny and scrutiny, from the right to repair to the app store fairness movement.

The company has largely prevailed over Epic Games in a highly publicized legal battle over the future of the App Store. However, this was not the only threat, and even this victory is not yet final, as appeals go through the courts.

But aside from a hypothetical defeat in court or new rules, things are basically business as usual at Apple despite the pandemic and supply chain issues, and business remains good.