by Jim Lundy
Apple and Microsoft both announced significant increases in their revenues during their earnings reports this week. They both had different reasons for growth but suffice to say remote work has helped both companies. This blog covers some of the details in each of their earnings releases.
Apple Quarterly Revenue Surges to $111 Billion
Apple revenue surged to 111.4 billion for the quarter, led by demand for the iPhone and for Apple services. iPhone revenue grew 17% to $65.6 billion, powered by upgrade demand from older iPhones to the new iPhone 12, 12 Pro, and 12 Max iPhones.
Overall breakdown of revenue is below. Note the strong showing of the wearables unit, which includes Home and Apple Watch.
| Item | Revenue |
| iPhone | $65.6 B |
| iPad | $8.44 B |
| Mac | $8.68 |
| Wearables | $12.97 |
| Services | $15.76 |
Apple Revenue in China
Surprisingly, there is strong demand for all Apple products in China and revenue from China hit $23.31 Billion vs $13.58 in the previous quarter.
The major boost in revenues for Apple and Microsoft is a sign of their strength in this phase of the pandemic.
Xbox and Azure helps to Power Record Revenue from Microsoft
Microsoft saw sales jump by 17% for the quarter to $43.1 billion. Demand for Xbox as well as for Microsoft Azure helped to power the quarter. Microsoft does not release specific numbers for Azure, probably due to not wanting grief from its neighbor Amazon.
Xbox Demand Surges
Demand for the new next gen Xbox consoles helped power growth of 86%. The new Xbox Series X and S consoles are expected to continue to sell well, but due to demand, supply of those units may continue to be constrained.
Microsoft Productivity and Business Processes (Office, Dynamics and LinkedIn) saw revenues grew by 13% to 13.5 billion.
Surface vs iPad
Microsoft Surface saw revenue of $2 billion. That contrasts with the Apple sales of iPad of $8.44 billion. We will continue to monitor this area, but with Apple iPad and Microsoft Surface refreshes expect to see more demand for both product families going forward.
Bottom Line
Remote work is fueling demand for devices and for SaaS software. Expect to see more double-digit growth in 2021. The challenge for providers is how much can they grow during this remote work era.