Monday, January 30, 2023 4:25 pm1 Comment

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Apple’s last earnings report was bolstered by the indomitable Macintosh and the same dynamic may show up in the Cupertino Colossus’ holiday earnings.

Emily Bary for MarketWatch:

Macs posted record revenue of $11.5 billion that was more than $2 billion ahead of expectations in the September quarter, making up for a shortfall in Apple’s iPhone sales. Apple may be looking for a boost from its white knight yet again when it reports holiday-quarter results Thursday afternoon, since its iPhone business has faced supply disruptions amid COVID-19 shutdowns in China.

Management’s own outlook called for Mac revenue “to decline substantially” from a year before, and analysts tracked by FactSet expect the company to post $9.4 billion in Mac revenue for the December quarter, 13.5% below its sales from a year earlier. That year-ago period benefited from a MacBook Pro launch.

Still, revenue of that magnitude would be Apple’s fourth highest on record for the category, despite the lack of a big product refresh, and there could be room for upside on Macs again this quarter. Morgan Stanley analyst Erik Woodring recently boosted his expectations for Mac revenue to $9.8 billion, up 12% from his prior forecast due to “stronger-than-expected Mac shipments.”

MacDailyNews Take: Apple’s Macintosh will continue to outperform the struggling “PC” industry because Apple’s well-heeled Mac customers are also most likely to be inflation- and recession-resistant and because the Mac hardware and software continues to outperform the imitators.

Imagine, some of these IP- and trade dress-trampling hacks have spent nearly 40 years trying to copy the Mac and still not getting anywhere near it!

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