Apple Inc. reported record sales in the holiday quarter, beating estimates due to high iPhone demand and growing subscribers, even as a chip shortage that it said has begun easing cost it over $6 billion in revenue.
The record results for the quarter ended Dec. 25 reflected what analysts have described as Apple taking advantage of its incredible size. The company, which has more than 1.8 billion active devices in the market, has been able to squeeze suppliers and manufacturers to produce big quantities of iPhones and other devices despite shortages brought on by the pandemic and most recently the Omicron variant.
“They’ve navigated the supply chain better than everybody, and it’s showing in the results,” said Ryan Reith, who studies the smartphone market for industry tracker IDC.
Demand during the holiday quarter outstripped supply in line with Apple’s expectations, CFO Luca Maestri told Reuters.
Apple’s smartphone market share in China reached a record 23% in the holiday quarter, Counterpoint Research reported.