Apple With 2 Billion Users, And 935 Million Paid Subscriptions, But Declining Revenue

04/02/2023

Apple, the first company to have ever reached the $3 trillion market capitalization, must have a promising portfolio.

And yes indeed it has.

With products ranging from Mac computers to MacBooks, to iPads, iPhones and Apple Watches, the company also develops its own software. Billions of dollars are generated each year, and that is exactly what Apple touted during its quarterly results.

First of, Apple CEO Tim Cook, via a statement posted to the company's website, said that Apple has more than two billion active devices in a global installed base. That number was at 1.8 billion almost exactly a year ago in 2022, meaning that Apple managed to add around 200,000 new devices in just a year.

The number highlights a fast growth for the company, which only surpassed 1 billion back in 2016, and hit 1.5 billion active devices at the start of 2020.

This number is double what it was just seven years ago.

Apple products
All Apple products, as of 2023.

According to Tim Cook in a newsroom post:

“During the December quarter, we achieved a major milestone and are excited to report that we now have more than 2 billion active devices as part of our growing installed base"

Luca Maestri, chief financial officer, Apple, said that it’s the merging markets which are making a big difference.

“The growth is coming from every major product category and geographic segment, with strong double-digit increases in emerging markets such as Brazil, Mexico, India, Indonesia, Thailand, and Vietnam."

Maestri also credited the growth of the installed base to high customer satisfaction and loyalty, along with a record number of customers switching to Apple from competitors, like Samsung.

In all, Apple managed this to reach this 2 billion milestone, thanks to record device sales in 2021 that dodged supply chain challenges stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic.

It's worth noting through, that Apple stopped disclosing individual sales figures for any of its devices a few years ago.

What this means, it’s not clear which of its devices are actually fueling the growth of its active devices around the world.

In comparison, Google in 2021 reported that it had 3 billion active Android users. Google also counts active Android devices as ones that have access to the Google Play store, so the real number could be higher if counting phones from that don’t include it.

But regardless, Google works with a bunch of vendors and phone manufacturers, whereas Apple controls its entire ecosystem, ranging from iOS, macOS, and other Apple devices

Also, Apple reported a 935 million paid subscriptions, which is an increase of up 3.8% year-over-year.

But the increase in numbers doesn't mean that everything is settled.

Apple revenue decline 2023 q1

For example, Apple missed its revenue expectation, and Cook blamed the overall fall in revenue to "a challenging environment."

During its fiscal 2023 first quarter, the iPhone maker post quarterly revenue of $117.2 billion, which is down 5% year-over-year. This marks the first year-over-year sales decline for the company since 2019.

That is almost the same as its all-time record for fiscal Q1 in 2022, which saw $123.95 billion in revenue.

Apple's numbers were certainly not helped by supply chain issues that made its best iPhones almost impossible to buy during the quarter. Issues at Foxconn's iPhone 14 Pro plant meant that stocks were hard to come by.

Apple's quarterly performance is also thought to have been impacted by the global economic situation, with rampant inflation among some of the issues people are currently dealing with around the world.

Apple Services
Apple Services

But still, CEO Tim Cook has said he is “more confident about the future of Apple” than ever after the company reported lackluster financial results.

According to Luca Maestri, the company sets an all-time revenue record of $20.8 billion in Services revenue for the quarter. which include Apple Music, Apple TV Plus, Apple Arcade, and Apple One among others.

This beats the $19.5 billion estimate.

"We set an all-time revenue record of $20.8 billion in our Services business, and in spite of a difficult macroeconomic environment and significant supply constraints, we grew total company revenue on a constant currency basis. We generated $34 billion in operating cash flow and returned over $25 billion to shareholders during the quarter while continuing to invest in our long-term growth plans."