[HN Gopher] Apple First Quarter Results
       ___________________________________________________________________
        
       Apple First Quarter Results
        
       Author : Bahamut
       Score  : 60 points
       Date   : 2021-01-27 21:32 UTC (1 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.apple.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.apple.com)
        
       | kelseydh wrote:
       | For years now, Mac OS X has had a bug where if you download a
       | file like an image from the internet, and want to upload it
       | elsewhere, there's a long delay (10-30 seconds or more) before
       | the file shows up in your file system to select it.
       | 
       | This problem has been ongoing for years and Apple still hasn't
       | fixed it. Even brand new, maxed out Macbooks have this problem.
       | In an era where much of what people do online is rapidly
       | downloading and reposting content across platforms, it's
       | unacceptable Apple can let such a ghetto problem go unfixed.
        
         | FriendlyNormie wrote:
         | It has a ton of shitty problems like this. What do you expect,
         | a literal faggot runs the company.
        
       | gordon_freeman wrote:
       | One thing which is not appreciated enough about Apple is how
       | magnificent its Return on Capital is. Its net profit margin hover
       | over 20% and compared to another company Amazon which also has
       | posted over a $100 billion revenue in a single quarter but
       | Amazon's net profit margin is around 5%. I would say Apple is in
       | a league of its own!
        
         | encoderer wrote:
         | They also bought-back several hundred million shares. Most tech
         | companies are slowly diluting share holders with their
         | quarterly RSUs, while Apple is continually shrinking their
         | overall outstanding share count.
         | 
         | The main question is, do you believe they can keep it up, and I
         | for one do. Their eco-system gets stronger every year.
        
           | bigtones wrote:
           | I think they can keep it up - their services revenue growth
           | has been pretty spectacular over the last few quarters, and
           | with more people at home due to COVID their new Apple Fitness
           | thing is going to take off.
        
             | gordon_freeman wrote:
             | Also to keep in mind is that their profit margin on
             | services is higher compared to their devices. Hence I'm
             | assuming the upward growth of its net profit margin in
             | coming years along with increasing revenue. Lots of upside
             | for AAPL imo.
        
         | bigtones wrote:
         | Not quite a league of their own but a short list of companies
         | for sure - Microsoft posted revenue of $43B this quarter (not
         | as high as Apples $110B Q) but with a 32% net profit margin.
        
           | pavlov wrote:
           | Facebook's margin is even better, 46% on Q4 revenue of $28B.
           | 
           | Of course Microsoft's income is more diversified while FB's
           | revenue is almost entirely ads (other revenue was $885M,
           | mostly from Oculus Quest 2).
        
       | monadic3 wrote:
       | > fiscal 2021 first quarter ended December 26, 2020
       | 
       | This makes zero sense. Why does the first financial quarter of a
       | year occur the quarter before? Why does it end on December 26th?
        
       | minimaxir wrote:
       | This beat is more notable since Apple had closed a number of
       | their physical stores due to the pandemic, which had driven many,
       | many sales.
        
         | [deleted]
        
         | chrisseaton wrote:
         | What's 'beat' mean in this context?
        
           | [deleted]
        
           | bigtones wrote:
           | They beat the street...the wall street analyst estimates of
           | revenue and profit growth for the quarter.
        
           | throw03172019 wrote:
           | Not OP but beat analysts' expectations
        
           | svachalek wrote:
           | Beating expectations. Since Apple didn't provide guidance
           | this quarter it's probably in reference to analyst reports.
        
       | LockAndLol wrote:
       | People really seem to hate right to repair
        
         | Jtsummers wrote:
         | It's not "hate", most people don't know and don't care. They
         | want things that "just work". And, for many people, Apple's
         | devices do that.
        
         | dmitriid wrote:
         | For most people Apple's products live beyond the expected life
         | range (compared to the rest of the industry).
        
           | tyingq wrote:
           | That rings true, though Apple could do better when large
           | problems do crop up, which doesn't happen often. They seem to
           | need several rounds of PR beatings before doing the right
           | thing.
        
         | aduitsis wrote:
         | I think the inability to repair Apple products is right on par
         | with the rest of the industry really. My Samsung mobile phone
         | is just as difficult to repair as an iPhone.
         | 
         | Also, when it comes to computers (I use a Mac), there is also
         | another factor. Apple devices may be difficult (and expensive)
         | to repair, but they are certainly popular, which means one can
         | find plenty of online resources or even spare parts, where
         | applicable. And, one can actually find a local store that
         | repairs Macs and take the computer there, if throwing money at
         | the problem is an option.
         | 
         | Quite recently, I came across a case of a Lenovo laptop whose
         | user had somehow activated bitlocker and forgot the password.
         | Wasn't interested in the files, they just wanted to be able to
         | use the computer again. I tried to find a way to reinstall the
         | operating system and, I kid you not, there was literally no
         | obvious way to boot normally from a usb device nor Lenovo
         | provides any meaningful documentation or, Heaven forbid, the
         | boot image to reinstall. It was actually kind of difficult to
         | even determine the model of the device, as there have been
         | several generations with the same name, each with a different
         | processor and efi firmware. It was almost as if the model never
         | existed.
         | 
         | We can laugh all we want for Apple's expensive and un-
         | repairable devices, but the above nightmare cannot happen in
         | the Apple ecosystem. You can even get the device to an apple
         | store and they'll happily take your money and fix your device
         | (if it's not severely damaged of course). This is not unique to
         | Apple, e.g. Dell has excellent support and documentation. But
         | this is a quality that is very important and yet it is often
         | overlooked.
        
         | jasonv wrote:
         | Last fall I took my early era MacBook Air to Apple and ordered
         | a battery replacement for $99. It came back with a new
         | motherboard too. Essentially a new machine, and it took two
         | interactions: drop-off and pick up.
         | 
         | Last fall I bought two Dell desktops (for a client project) and
         | neither has working Bluetooth/WiFi. One machine has been fully
         | out of commission for 2 months and the other is limping along
         | with weak WiFi and no Bluetooth.
         | 
         | The Dell is upgradeable and I could put 3rd party cards in
         | there and get along. But they're brand new machines under
         | warranty. I've had two tech visits and traded more than 45
         | emails with Dell tech support and I'm still waiting on full
         | system replacements that will ship in February sometime. I
         | bought these machines in November.
         | 
         | Right to repair or not, I trust Apple non-right-to-repair
         | hardware over Dell "I could repair it myself" desktop hardware.
         | 
         | The user experience of dealing with both companies negates the
         | right to repair concern for me, on these right now.
        
       | chrisseaton wrote:
       | Turns out all those people dramatically saying they're finally
       | moving off macOS for good don't really count for anything! Who
       | could have guessed?
        
         | minikites wrote:
         | You could re-post this exact comment but make it about Windows
         | in 2005. Short term success can mask long term problems.
        
         | perardi wrote:
         | Gosh, sheeple, valuing battery life and speed above all else.
         | 
         | When will these people listen to Stallman?! It is CRITICAL TO
         | EVERYONE that we be able to compile Hurd from scratch.
        
           | bilbo0s wrote:
           | _It is CRITICAL TO EVERYONE that we be able to compile Hurd
           | from scratch_
           | 
           | Not to be flip, but you can do that on a Macbook Pro as well
           | if you have the skills and know how.
        
         | nbzso wrote:
         | This proves again that MacOS is not worth using anymore. Apple
         | has no financial interest in producing desktop or laptop os in
         | "general computing" sense. Actual Apple product is the iPhone
         | and iServices. Everything else is in category of companion
         | device. And yes, people don't care about security and freedom
         | they care about safety, social perception and ease of use.
        
           | robenkleene wrote:
           | This isn't true because the all of the apps and a huge amount
           | of the content people consume on iOS devices is made on Macs.
           | The Mac is in fact the golden goose, the iPhone is the egg.
        
         | Saint_Genet wrote:
         | Might just be that hn comments aren't representative of the
         | wider population.
        
           | [deleted]
        
           | f6v wrote:
           | > Might just be that hn comments aren't representative of the
           | wider population.
           | 
           | Just like any comment section anywhere in the world. Happy
           | users don't bother writing about their experience.
        
       | bigtones wrote:
       | Apple set a new quarterly record with $111.4 billion in Revenue:
       | 
       | iPhone Revenue was $65.6 billion since iPhone 12 October release
       | 
       | Services Revenue was $15.76 billion
       | 
       | Products revenue was $95.68 billion
       | 
       | Wearables Revenue was $12.97 billion
        
       | amrrs wrote:
       | FWIW, Apple opened its first online store in India during this
       | pandemic and several outlets reported it's been a huge success.
       | Couple that with the china ban going on in India. Apple seems to
       | always get some way out of tough times!
        
         | iamgopal wrote:
         | Which still doesn't accept or pass on purchase GST credit.
        
       | Grustaf wrote:
       | And the share price inevitably falls in after hours trading.
       | Seems shareholders had even more optimistic expectations than
       | analysts.
        
       | r00fus wrote:
       | So Mac sales are up from 2020Q1 by $1B. Lots of upgrades I bet,
       | for the M1 Macs. I know I finally bought personal laptops for my
       | kids who until now had been sharing a 10 year old family laptop
       | among other devices.
       | 
       | I wonder how much is also related to the fact that it became
       | apparent in the fall that remote learning is here to stay for the
       | entire school year (where it was instituted in the first place).
       | [edit: fixed Quarter date]
        
         | tyingq wrote:
         | I'm curious what the uptick will look like for the next round
         | of devices that get the M1, perhaps with 32GB memory options.
        
           | threeseed wrote:
           | If rumours are true the next round will be the iMac, MacBook
           | Pro 14 and 16.
           | 
           | M2, 32GB option, integrated graphics and possibly Mini-LED
           | displays.
           | 
           | MacBook Pros getting rid of TouchBar and adding Magsafe, HDMI
           | and SD ports.
        
         | kelseydh wrote:
         | If you are a developer relying on tools like docker and ruby,
         | beware of the M1 chip as there are still lots of
         | incompatibilities.
         | https://www.driftingruby.com/episodes/a-rubyist-s-apple-m1-r...
        
           | TimothyBJacobs wrote:
           | I'm not a rubyist, but the latest Docker Preview has been
           | working great for me.
        
         | lapcatsoftware wrote:
         | > So Mac sales are up from 2019Q4 by $1B.
         | 
         | Technically, up $1.7B from that quarter, but why are you
         | comparing 2021Q1 with 2019Q4?
         | 
         | 2021 Q1 $8.675B
         | 
         | 2020 Q4 $9.032B
         | 
         | 2020 Q1 $7.160B
         | 
         | 2019 Q4 $6.991B
         | 
         | Clearly the uptick in Mac sales is due to the pandemic and work
         | from home, because 2020 Q4 was prior to the release of M1 Macs,
         | and Mac sales had been flat for several years prior.
         | 
         | It's difficult to determine the effect of M1 Macs on the last
         | quarter sales, because they weren't available until mid-
         | November and were also very supply-constrained.
        
           | r00fus wrote:
           | Meant 2020Q1, updated. I know the base level M1s were
           | constantly unavailable locally.
        
       ___________________________________________________________________
       (page generated 2021-01-27 23:00 UTC)