Apple Reports Fiscal Q2 2023 Results, CEO Tim Cook Says Mass Layoffs ‘Last Resort’

Apple today announced its revenue results for fiscal Q2 2023 (the first calendar quarter). The iPhone maker reported revenue of $94.8 billion and a net quarterly profit of $24.1 billion, or $1.52 per diluted share. That is compared to $97.3 billion in revenue for a net quarterly profit of $25 billion, or $1.52 per diluted share, one year ago.

The Cupertino company set a new all-time record for Services revenue, as it took in $20.9 billion. It also set a new March quarter record for iPhone revenue, bringing in $51.3 billion. However, Mac revenue had a steep year-over-year decline in quarterly revenue, plunging to $7.2 billion from $10.4 billion this time last year.

However, Apple’s iPhone sales grew from last year at the same time, even as the smartphone industry as a whole saw shipments fall close to 15% during the same quarter, according to an IDC estimate.

iPhone revenue grew 2% during the quarter, possibly indicating that the supply chain issues that have plagued Apple’s smartphone for the last few years may finally be letting up.

Apple’s board of directors declared a cash dividend of $0.24 per share of the Company’s common stock, which was an increase of 4%. Shareholders of record at the close of business on May 15, 2023, will receive the dividend on May 18, 2023. The repurchase of up to $90 billion of the Company’s common stock has been authorized by the Board of Directors.

Apple has not issued any guidance for the current quarter, ending in June, just as they’ve done for the past several straight quarters since the COVID-19 pandemic began during Q2 2020.

However, Apple CFO Luca Maestri did say on a call with analysts today that Apple expects to see overall revenue in the current quarter decline by approximately 3%.

“We expect our June quarter year-over-year revenue performance to be similar to the March quarter assuming that the macroeconomic outlook does not worsen from what we are projecting today for the current quarter,” Maestri said during the analyst call.

Jesse Cohen, senior analyst at Investing.com told me that solid iPhone demand helped the company offset incremental weaknesses in other areas of its business.”

“Apple reported a solid quarter, highlighting the durability of the company’s brand as the iPhone giant continues to grow its customer base,” said Cohen. “Solid demand growth for its lineup of high-end iPhones helped offset incremental weakness in other areas of the business.”

In related news, Apple CEO Tim Cook today reiterated his comments from March that he views mass layoffs as a “last resort,” and that such layoffs are not something the company is currently considering.

“I view that as a last resort and, so, mass layoffs is not something that we’re talking about at this moment,” said Cook, during an interview with CNBC.

Other major technology firms such as Google and Facebook parent Meta have been laying off tens of thousands of employees as they attempt to deal with the current economic downturn. Many tech firms aggressively hired employees during the COVID-19 pandemic.

While Apple has so far been able to avoid mass layoffs of full-time employees, it has reportedly let go of some corporate retail employees and contract employees and suspended any new hiring for some select positions. Apple employed approximately 164,000 full-time workers as of September 24. 2022.