According to Apple numbers: How to proceed with AI, Mac, iPad and Vision Pro

Apple’s quarterly figures communicated on Thursday evening are mixed: fewer iPhones were sold from April to June 2023 than in the previous year, and sales fell. There was only a small increase in profit and the high-margin service business also increased. For Apple CEO Tim Cook and CFO Luca Maestri, there was a lot to explain when talking to analysts after the announcement, especially since the price of Apple shares on Wall Street immediately slipped into the negative (current minus: almost three percent).

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Doesn’t look all that bad

So Cook and Maestri first tried to draw the interviewees to the positive side of the numbers. Among other things, they relate to the all-time high in sales (now $21.2 billion) in the Services division, in which Apple leads the content business, App Store, iCloud, Apple Care and some more. The managers also emphasized the fact that Apple now has a billion subscriptions across all areas – and Apple has never had more devices in active use.

However, the fact that hardware sales are shrinking cannot be denied. In addition to the iPhone, this also affects Mac and iPad. On the other hand, accessories and wearables – led by the Apple Watch – sold better. This division alone sees itself as a near-Fortune 100 company with $40 billion in sales over the past year.

Visions of the future: AI and Spatial Computing

Apple also emphasized future business. Cook wants to play in the AI ​​area, sees it as “absolutely critical” for the group. However, he does not want to announce that there will be a separate product here – such as a separate chatbot. However, they have also been investing in the field of generative AI for years and plan to continue to “responsibly use” the technology, which is central to many products. This is not reminiscent of a meta that wants to build AI “personas” into every chat app in the future.

Apple, on the other hand, is more specific when it comes to mixed reality. Here is finally the first hardware, the extremely expensive Vision Pro, announced for the coming year. They got very good feedback on their “spatial computer” after the show, and everyone who got a demonstration was “blown away,” Cook said. We are very much looking forward to delivering the first devices in the coming year. Although Apple does not give a forecast for the coming quarter. In general, however, it is assumed that there will also be a decline in sales again. And unfortunately this hardware year has been thin so far: There is a lack of exciting new Macs and iPads, and no revolution is to be expected with the iPhone either.

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