Apple is the world’s largest consumer technology giant. An outstanding leader in revenue, profits and market capitalization, it sells a large number of products and services that are among the elite in their segments. But from an economic point of view, there is a very clear conclusion: Apple is a mobile company.

We have the last sample in the presentation of financial results for the first quarter of 2023, highly expected by analysts to verify the reality of a complicated 2023 from a macroeconomic perspective, which is not positive for the technology industry after strong increases during 2023. the last two years of the COVID pandemic.

iPhone: Apple’s big bastion

But Apple is Apple and its phones continue to sell like hot cakes. Apple sold iPhones worth $51.3 billion in just one quarter. A spectacular figure that beat both Wall Street and the company’s own expectations, and one that holds even more value in a period when IDC calculated that global smartphone sales were down more than 15% worldwide.

“We are pleased to report a record quarter for iPhone despite a challenging macroeconomic environment and that our installed base of active devices reached an all-time high.”CEO Tim Cook explained. And on top of that, let’s just say that mobile device sales accounted for more than half of all of Apple’s revenue, and it managed to reduce its revenue loss for the second quarter in a row.

And that’s it the results of the rest of the categories are not so positive, especially in hardware, with sharp declines in Mac sales (which analysts had already predicted) and slightly lower sales of iPad tablets. In terms of service revenue, the category that includes iCloud, Apple TV Plus or Apple Music was also lower than estimated, but reached $20.910 million and is a category that Apple wants to strengthen to avoid a huge dependence on sales cell phones.

Analysts expect growth to continue in financial terms and given the difficult current situation share buyback companies as a way to increase returns for investors. As expected, Apple delivered: “Given our confidence in Apple’s future and the value we see in our stock, our board has approved an additional $90 billion in share repurchases. We are also increasing our quarterly dividend for the 11th consecutive year.”announced CFO Luca Maestri,

No template cutout

Regarding the staff, Apple is the only major tech company that hasn’t cut the number of employees, bucking the post-pandemic industry trend. In an interview with CNBC, Cook assured that layoffs are not on Apple’s immediate horizon. “I see it as a last resort, and that’s why mass layoffs are not something we’re dealing with right now.”explained the executive.

Looking ahead, Tim Cook is optimistic and expects to overcome the revenue decline of the past two quarters. Of course supported by the sale of mobile phones. All indications are that the market is in a post-pandemic seasonal break and that the numbers will recover in the last semester and even more in 2024.