Apple's Sales Rise in Pandemic, but Pressure Remains for Breakout Holiday Season

By Tim Higgins

Apple Inc. benefited from a significant uptick in sales of laptops and iPads due to the pandemic, even as quarterly iPhone sales fell from a year earlier after a delay in the launch of the company's flagship new smartphone.

The tech giant this year has largely benefited from demand for digital services, computers and other devices as workers and students around the world have stayed home due to the spread of Covid-19. The fiscal fourth quarter continued that trend.

Sales of computers, iPads and smartwatches helped buoy the company in the three-month period that ended in September, with total revenue rising 1%, the company reported Thursday. Wall Street analysts surveyed by FactSet, on average, expected revenue to fall for the period.

Profit fell to $12.7 billion, or 73 cents a share, from 76 cents a year earlier, the company said. The results beat analyst expectations for profit of 71 cents a share.

The results helped Apple conclude its fiscal year with an increase in revenue and profits after both figures fell in the previous 12-month period. Apple finished its fiscal year with $274.5 billion in revenue, a 5.5% gain from 2019.

The arrival of the iPhone 12 in October, instead of its traditional late-September launch, delayed purchases for many consumers, intensifying the pressure on Apple to deliver outsize sales in this holiday quarter. Investor expectations for significant growth in iPhone revenue have helped push the company's market value to over $2 trillion.

Write to Tim Higgins at Tim.Higgins@WSJ.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 29, 2020 16:52 ET (20:52 GMT)

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