Apple’s Q4 2022 financial results showed a 5% YoY decline in revenue to $117.2 billion and a 13% YoY decrease in net income to $30 billion. The company’s performance in the Chinese market, a crucial market for Apple, also fell short with sales of $23.9 billion, down 7% YoY. Following the release of the financial report, Apple’s stock price dropped more than 3% in after-hours trading.
Apple’s biggest rival Samsung was also impacted in the fourth quarter, with its chip business leading to a 69% drop in operating profit. Apple CEO Tim Cook attributed the company’s decrease in performance to the appreciation of the US dollar, which led to a devaluation of sales in other currencies and pandemic-related factory production issues, causing shortages of the iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max.
The global smartphone market saw its lowest shipments in a decade due to a sharp drop in consumer demand, inflation, and macroeconomic uncertainty. Despite these losses, Apple recorded an 85% share of the global smartphone market’s operating profit in 2022, with 18% of global smartphone shipments and 48% of business revenue for the year. In Q4 2022, Apple shipped 70 million iPhones worldwide, up from 49.2 million in the previous quarter but down from 81.5 million in Q4 2021.
Unlike its tech giant peers, Amazon, Microsoft, Google, and Meta, Apple has not announced significant layoffs. Cook stated in an interview that layoffs are a last resort for the company and that they aim to control costs in other ways.
