Apple increases profit

Run on new iPad compensates for iPhone weakness

Apple recently updated its iPad range.

(Bild: Apple)

Apple made slightly less money with its iPhones in the third quarter - but the iPad tablets more than filled the gap. Group turnover rose by five percent year-on-year to 85.5 billion dollars (79.3 billion euros).

The bottom line was a profit of around 21.5 billion dollars, around eight percent more than a year ago.

iPhone sales fell by one percent year-on-year to around 39.3 billion dollars. Apple thus exceeded analysts' expectations. The share price rose slightly on the stock exchange after the close. Apple's shares have risen by around 13 percent in the year to date and are thus in line with the Nasdaq 100.

Most valuable company in the world
With a market capitalization of just over 3.3 trillion dollars, Apple is currently the most valuable company in the world - followed by Microsoft (3.1 trillion) and Nvidia (2.7 trillion).

However, the star of the quarter in Apple's product range was the iPad - after the US company launched a new high-performance Pro model and a new edition of the iPad Air. Sales of the tablet jumped by almost a quarter year-on-year to 7.16 billion dollars. Analysts had expected half a billion dollars less on average.

Mac computers were also a bright spot, with sales up 2.4 percent to a good seven billion dollars. Apple emphasizes that there is still a large market to be developed: With both the iPad and the Mac, more than half of buyers had purchased one of the devices for the first time.

AI tools coming in the fall
Apple plans to bring new functions based on artificial intelligence to its devices from the fall. Some of the AI innovations have high hardware requirements: They are likely to run on new iPhone models - but at least an iPhone 15 Pro from last year will be required. Apple CEO Tim Cook said in a conference call with analysts that this could give customers a reason to buy new iPhones.

Apple had recently lost ground in the large smartphone market of China. According to calculations by analysis firm IDC, Apple dropped out of the top 5 smartphone providers in China. At the top, the Chinese provider Vivo and the resurgent Huawei Group are in a neck-and-neck race with a good 18% market share each. Apple's revenue in the China region fell by more than 6 percent to 14.73 billion dollars.

At the same time, Cook emphasized that he is nevertheless confident about the market in the long term. For example, iPhones have recently been the most popular smartphone models in the cities.