Apple today announced its fiscal Q4 2024 earnings, marking impressive growth with a revenue of $94.9 billion, up 6 percent year-over-year, and quarterly diluted earnings per share of $0.97. Excluding a $10.2 billion payment related to a tax dispute in Ireland, adjusted earnings per share reached $1.64, an increase of 12 percent year-over-year.
CEO Tim Cook attributed this growth to the successful launch of the iPhone 16, Apple Watch Series 10, and AirPods 4, alongside the initial rollout of Apple Intelligence features, which are expected to further boost growth in the coming quarters.
India performance reaches new heights
India stood out as a key growth market in Apple’s Q4 results, achieving an all-time revenue record. Apple’s increased focus on India, which included opening two new stores and planning to add four more, reflects Cupertino’s confidence in the region’s growth potential. With the iPhone 16 series in particular, Apple started making the pro models—also—in India to meet local and global demand, reducing overreliance on China. Reports say the company has started production of the upcoming iPhone 17 early in the country.
Tim Cook highlighted that India is a key driver of Apple’s expansion strategy in emerging markets, with iPhone, services, and iPad revenue all showing double-digit growth in the country.
“We continue to be excited by the enthusiasm we’re seeing in India, where we set an all-time revenue record,” Cook told investors.
Globally, iPhone sales surged, recording new revenue records in key markets, including the United States, Brazil, France, and the United Kingdom. Apple’s services segment also reached an all-time high, up 12 percent from last year, driven by strong demand for Apple subscriptions like Apple Music and TV Plus, app purchases, and media offerings. Cook further emphasised that the September quarter’s revenue record is a testament to Apple’s high customer satisfaction and loyalty, as well as a growing installed base across all product categories.
Expanding device ecosystem
Apple’s device ecosystem remains central to its growth and it seems to be thriving. CFO Luca Maestri shared that Apple’s active installed device base hit an all-time high, contributing to $27 billion in operating cash flow during the quarter. This enabled the company to return over $29 billion to shareholders, underscoring its financial strength and commitment to rewarding investor confidence. Notably, the iPad segment saw a revenue increase of 8 percent year-over-year—buoyed by the new iPad Pro and iPad Air model launches earlier in the year—with strong demand in emerging markets like India, Brazil, and South Asia.
This has been a busy week for Apple. It launched a trio of new Macs, an updated iMac with M4, Mac Mini with M4 and M4 Pro, and 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pro with M4, M4 Pro, M4 Max. All the new Macs ship with 16GB of RAM by default and are geared from get-go to run Apple Intelligence features, the first of which are now available for the general public, although still in beta. As Apple heads into the holiday season, the recent product launches and initial AI-focused Apple Intelligence rollout set the stage for sustained growth.
“During the quarter, we were excited to announce our best products yet, with the all-new iPhone 16 lineup, Apple Watch Series 10, AirPods 4, and remarkable features for hearing health and sleep apnea detection. And this week, we released our first set of features for Apple Intelligence, which sets a new standard for privacy in AI and supercharges our lineup heading into the holiday season,” Cook added.
