Apple recently confirmed that the company will announce results for the first quarter of fiscal year 2024 (fourth calendar quarter of 2023) on February 1. Side note: Apple's fiscal year starts on October 1 and ends on September 30.
The holiday quarter is Apple's most lucrative quarter, as sales of new iPhones are boosted by the holiday season. Financial results for the period October to December 2023 will be released, followed from a conference call with CEO Tim Cook and CFO Luca Maestri. The iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro launched in September and were a huge success. Tim Cook said it was the best September quarter ever for the iPhone.
Q1/2024: Apple will convince
At Apple's "Scary Fast" event in October, three M3 processors were unveiled, which will power an updated 24-inch iMac, 14-inch MacBook Pro, and 16-inch MacBook Pro. The availability of new Macs in November and December should provide a favorable comparison to the first quarter of 2023, as Apple hasn't announced any new Macs in the second half of 2022. The M2 processor launched in the MacBook Air in June 2022, and the M2 Pro/Max was integrated into the MacBook Pro lineup in January 2023—thus missing Q1 2023 entirely. Last year's results were not a bright spot for Apple, as revenue declined for four consecutive quarters.
Legal dispute with Massimo is likely to be the focus of analysts
Services continues to be a growth area for Apple but the post-pandemic market is down for most hardware products. Wearables, however, will be a tough one as demand was pushed into Q1 2023 due to supply chain conditions in 2022. The Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2 launched without any supply issues, so demand was focused on Q4 2023 and available demand for Q1 2024 likely dropped. The ongoing Masimo case against Apple and a potential import ban on the Apple Watch will likely be the focus of analysts. The first ban was only imposed on December 25 and lasted only two days before being briefly suspended but if the ban goes back into effect in January, it will have a significant impact on Q2. (Photo by AshDesign / Bigstockphoto)
