Apple had one of its best quarters ever, offering hope for the rest of the global economy

Isaac Newton would be stumped… This Apple just doesn’t seem to fall. Yesterday the world’s most valuable company said sales jumped more than expected last quarter — to $97B — despite ongoing supply issues, the war in Ukraine, and booming inflation. All told, it was Apple’s third-best quarter of all time. The details:

• Booming sales: Sales of iPhones, Macs, and other hardware like AirPods all rose more than expected. Sales grew fastest in the services division (think: App Store, iCloud).
• Soaring buybacks: Apple’s board authorized $90B in stock buybacks, even more than last year. Analysts typically see buybacks as a sign of confidence.

The post-pandemic slump… still hasn’t hit Apple. Apple’s stock is still up more than double since the pandemic began, while fellow stay-at-home surgers Meta, Zoom, Peloton, and Netflix have fallen to pre-pandemic levels. But some analysts worried that China’s latest lockdowns would finally put a damper on Apple’s results:

• The cause for concern: China is critical to Apple’s business: an estimated 20% of iProducts are sold in China and 85% are built there.
• Saved by a flexible supply chain: Apple’s recent sales didn’t fall. Part of the reason: the Fruit shifted production resources between products to prevent shortages (basically: making more iPhones than iPads when they ran low).