“The biggest drop in revenue in 22 years.” Apple is affected. Tim Cook runs a company that excels in digital businesses, in subscriptions – and the App Store is a gold mine -, by diving into analog.
In fact, if we ignore the performance of the iPhone, this “status symbol” among young people, Apple is not doing well: at the end of the 2023 financial year, iPad revenues of ‘Apple fell 3.4%, $28.3 billion. Globally, its profits fell 2.8%. And the removal of the Apple Watch in the United States just before Christmas resulted in a loss of sales of about $135 million, according to analysts at Morgan Stanley. Faced with this map stained like a watercolor, what does the future hold for us?
An iPhone to hold a castle
Of course, Apple is the king of high-end and 8 of the 10 best-selling phones belong to them. Its presence is even increasing in USA, which gives us certain indicators of purchasing power. And yes, iPads and laptops continue to be sold, but their market has stagnated and If he is in the lead, it is because the competition has been so affected that his numbers stand out in pure contrast.
However, its actions remain robust. And even though the Vision Pro, the mixed reality glasses we’ll see in just three weeks, costs an astonishing $3,499, their mere presence on the market implies another status symbol: They’ve created something new, they knew how to offer it. to come to fruition. Everyone who tries them is amazed, calling them futuristic, innovative technology full of possibilities. And if one thing is clear, it is that Apple knows how to generate an ecosystem around a new product, how to amplify its possibilities within the market.
The worst year in Apple history
This wasn’t Apple’s worst financial year. If we look at the newspaper archives, it is worth remembering that in 2016 there was the first big decline since 2001. Even then, Apple knew that depending on the iPhone was a mistake; Still, 60% of revenue came from the company’s smartphones, following a 23% decline just at the end of this fiscal quarter.
The worst year for Apple was 1997. The reality is that Apple has never been bankrupt, nor to the point of no return, in a declared bankruptcy. This has always been something of a commercial hyperbole to justify an alliance with rival Microsoft.when it invested $150 million.
Why did this happen? The Apple of 1995 was a company without direction. The following year, they purchased NeXT and the operating system for $500 million. And with these scaffoldings, the Macs of the future were launched. They literally acquired Steve Jobs, who returned as an advisor and in 1997 as CEO. And John Sculley’s final days left the coffers hit, with no defined product line. That’s why we had to make commitments, sign strange deals, enter into aggressive alliances… being Apple, after all.
At Apple from 2024… or from 2030
The Apple of 2024 is not at that point. Over the course of 2023, I’ve been to the movies about 15 times and half of them were greeted by the Apple Originals logo. “Assassins of the Moon” smells like an Oscar and “Napoleon” smells like redemption; Meanwhile, the “Air Masters” are already warming up and “Argylle” is no less aspiring to become number 1. The losses are notable, how could they not be in a machine of a such caliber, but so are the benefits. AND Apple is the most valuable company on the planet. It’s worth twice as much as Amazonthe company that owns one of the three cables of the global Internet, AWS.
Goldman Sachs, Coca-Cola, Johnson & Johnson and Comcast depend on these services, in addition to owning Twitch, YouTube’s only possible rival. Can you imagine Amazon disappearing from the map? Well, there it is: hundreds of production companies depend on Apple Music and the trust in Apple TV+ is such that many others prefer to ally with it rather than repeat their luck with Netflix.
However, nothing is immutable. And it’s not because this is not the worst-case scenario that we are facing the crucial year, the one where we have to take risks. The crucial moment when it will be necessary to determine whether Apple emerges unscathed, with its head held high, from a multi-billion dollar investment after more than five years and one of the most expensive products of its technological career, or if the setback is so painful which, like Google, ends up turning its glasses into a niche toy for the medical industry.
If all goes well, we already know the rest: the car. The Apple Car is the second incentive for a new fully configured Apple in the service sector and established in a 21st century of ecological and carbon-free solutions. A brand that aspires to transform all its Apple Stores into eco-sustainable temples like Apple Park.
If everything goes wrong, it is likely that, like a wounded animal, they will take a few steps in the opposite direction and by 2030 we will not be able to talk about big news. Then, and only then, can we join hands. Here is the big difference compared to 1995: either you move or they eat you. Tell that to OpenAI and the dozens of services and deals worth millions of dollars born from GPT and Dall·E.
You know, the competition doesn’t sleep :eThe Xiaomi SU7 is an electric vehicle with better sensors than the Tesla Model S Plaid and a better engine than the Porsche Taycan. As we always say in these cases, it’s a question of time.
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