Apple Records $111 billion Sales – Merry Chirstmas!

Christmas sales of Apple rose to about 21% from the prior year for the last quarter of 2020. The sales value during this period was over $111bn owing to the Christmas sales from latest phones, laptops and gadgets. The biggest driving force was the pandemic that pushed the internet and mobile usage due to online activities.

Apple currently counts over 1.65 billion devices globally and more than 1 billion iPhones in terms of volume. The biggest gain for Apple was its release of its new iPhone 12 suite. China especially was a lucrative market; it portrayed higher demands for phone that were compatible to 5G networks. These strong forces led to the hike in sale about 57% from greater China including Hong Kong and Taiwan. In Americas the sales rose to 11% and in Europe to about 17%. With such a pleasant year ending the company is looking forward to an optimistic first quarter of 2021.

Analyst Dan Ives of Wedbush Securities said he thought the firm was just at the start of a “super-cycle” as Apple devotees finally trade in old phones, coinciding with upgrades to telecommunications networks. “With 5G now in the cards and roughly 40% of its ‘golden jewel’ iPhone installed base not upgrading their phones in the last 3.5 years, [Apple chief Tim] Cook & Co have the stage set for a renaissance of growth,” he wrote.

While most of the companies are witnessing a slump during the pandemic, the tech companies are evidencing a golden opportunity. Apple recording $100 billion just in a quarter is a significant achievement. Introduction of 5G compatible iPhone 12 was also the right product at the right time. Not just apple other technology companies, also Facebook witnessed a sharp hike in their revenues. Facebook’s ad revenues raised by 30% during the last quarter due to demand in online shopping. Also, the number of people online its apps including Whatsapp rose to about 2.6 billion every day. This figure is about 15% high in comparison to 2019. However, how stable are these figure is a point of doubt at the moment. As the Covid 19 issues settle down with the introduction vaccination, it is expected that shopper appetite would decline. People would prefer travelling than online activities and products, this would shift the spending pattern of the people.

The pandemic has raised the demand for online facilitating activities. Many consumers were forced to use online options for all most all chores including bill payments, entertainment, product purchase and also for keeping in touch with their family members. All this has led to massive sales and are attracting attention of law makers that are now looking if these companies are operating in fair competition. Privacy issues are now being the biggest challenge that will decide on the long term sustainability of technology companies. With loads of options privacy is expected to be one big factor that would influence customer decision making process. Data sharing policies and ethical business process would play a major role in the long term