Apple’s Services shines as iPhone, iPad, Mac sales slip

Apple on Thursday announced the financial results for its fiscal third quarter of 2023 and there were few bright spots. While the company still made $81.8 billion in the period, that represented a 1 percent decline over last year’s Q3 results, and all major product categories—iPhone, iPad, and Mac—were down as well. While revenue was down, an increase in margin means that profit was up to $19.9 billion from $19.4 billion in the year-ago quarter.

The lone bright spot was Services, which posted a year-over-year jump of 8 percent to an all-time record of $21.21 billion, higher than Mac, iPad, and Wearables/Home/Accessories combined. The iPhone is still Apple’s largest category by far, raking in just under $40 billion in the quarter. Here’s how Apple’s quarter broke down:

• iPhone: $39.7B (Down 2 percent)
• iPad: $5.8B (Down 20 percent)
• Mac: $6.8B (Down 7 percent)
• Wearables/Home: $8.3B (Up 2 percent)
• Services: $21.2 billion (Up 8 percent)

In a press release, Apple said it has more than a billion paid subscriptions, though it’s not clear how many subscribers each of Apple’s individual services have, including TV+ and Music. 

CEO Tim Cook said in a conference call that the June quarter was a record for iPhone switchers and CFO Luca Maestri reported that Mac, iPad, and Watch had “high new-to” rates. Cook also noted that “the timing of the iPad Air launch last year” was largely responsible for the year-over-year dip.