Apple’s CEO Tim Cook said that an “all-time record” for Services helped the company to deliver an increase in Q2 revenue despite the “unprecedented” impact of the coronavirus outbreak.
Late on Thursday, Apple posted its latest financial results for the three-month period to 28th March 2020.
Its $58.3bn revenue represented a 1% rise on the previous quarter and handily beat the expectations of Wall Street analysts who had forecast a figure of $54.54bn.
The global pandemic affected Apple’s supply chain and manufacturing capabilities, but a record quarter for its Services division helped to pick up some of the slack.
Services revenue, which includes Apple Music, Apple Arcade, Apple TV+ and iCloud among other subscriptions, soared 16% to $13.34bn.
Cook said that the company’s TV service had been popular during the lockdown and that more people were also using iPad and Mac devices.
However, iPhone revenue slumped 7% year-over-year to $28.96bn as supply and demand was pressured by COVID-19.
Cook revealed that there had been a “very steep” drop-off in revenue during February, though there had been shoots of recovery in late March and into April.
Apple did not offer any financial guidance for Q3 due to the ongoing uncertainty, but Cook noted that it had “great confidence” in the company’s long-term prospects.
He added: “It was a very unique quarter. I’ve never had anything quite like this. I hope to never have it again, but I’m incredibly proud of the company and what was achieved during that period of time.”
Apple was still able to unveil new products during the challenging period with the iPad Pro, MacBook Air, and more recently, the iPhone SE launching to critical acclaim and strong demand from consumers.
Apple expects to start reopening retail stores later this month with a reduced capacity.