The Numbers
This time around, Apple was able to return to some normalcy in terms of its Q4, with the entire iPhone 13 lineup released in September, as expected, and on sale in time for it to boost the quarter’s revenue.
The result was a very healthy boost in iPhone sales, but not only did that surpass last year’s $26.4 billion — sales that would have come from the iPhone 11, iPhone SE, and other older models — but it blew past the Q4 2019 quarter, which saw the simultaneous release of the iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro, and iPhone 11 Pro Max. That year Apple had almost $39 billion in iPhone sales, which was still a 16.5% increase from the $33 billion in iPhone sales from two years ago.
- iPhone: $38.9 billion (47% growth)
- Mac: $9.2 billion (1.6% growth)
- iPad: $8.3 billion (21.4% growth)
- Wearable, Home, and Accessories: $8.8 billion (11.5% growth)
- Services: $18.2 billion (25.6% growth)
Notably, despite the loss of sales in Q4 2020 due to the delayed iPhone release, Apple made up for it in every other category and still posted a record-breaking Q4.
This year’s numbers shatter that once again, with $83.4 billion in revenue — a 29 percent increase over last year’s Q4 2020 revenue of $64.7 billion.
Much of this was spurred by iPhone sales, but Apple also saw fantastic growth in its services business, along with healthy growth in the iPad and Wearables categories.
The Mac category grew only slightly by comparison, but Apple also only released a single new Mac in 2021, unlike last year which saw a whole new slew of Intel MacBooks in the spring, plus a summer release of the last Intel-based 27-inch iMac.
By contrast, September saw the release of the sixth-generation iPad mini and a new ninth-generation iPad, plus the 2021 M1-powered iPad Pro in the spring, both of which likely helped the iPad category grow by nearly $1.5 billion in sales over last year.