New York (AFP)

Computer and internet giant Apple performed better than expected on earnings per share and revenue for its April-June quarter, supported by closely rising iPhone sales by 50%.

The Cupertino, Calif., Group posted net earnings per share of $ 1.30, compared to $ 1.01 expected by analysts polled by FactSet, and $ 81.4 billion in revenue, compared to $ 73.3 expected by the steps.

Investors reacted half-heartedly to this publication, however, the title even losing 1.96% in electronic trading following the close of Wall Street.

A decline attributed by some to cautious statements about the current quarter, which runs from July to September.

Apple's third quarter (second of the calendar year), whose fiscal calendar is shifted, was driven by sales of its flagship product, the iPhone, up 49.7% compared to the same period in 2020.

Geographically, all the major areas where the group operates are showing increasing results, with the prize going to China (+ 58%), whose economic recovery after the health crisis was early.

"It's a performance worthy of a gold medal," commented Dan Ives, of Wedbush, in a post-release note, "especially taking into account the shadow of the semi shortage. -conductors "which has affected all technological industries for months.

However, for Yoram Wurmser, analyst at eMarketer, this shortage of microchips "seems to have deprived iPad and Mac products of a little growth", even if the two lines have signed a double-digit increase.

- "One quarter after another" -

During the earnings presentation conference call, CFO Luca Maestri said Apple had managed to limit the loss of revenue in the quarter.

He explained, however, that the group expected "supply constraints to be greater" in the current quarter than in the previous three months.

During the same conference, CEO Tim Cook explained that these constraints were common to companies in the sector and not specific to Apple.

He added that part of the problem was that demand was significantly higher than the company had expected.

He declined to give any indication of continuing tensions in the supply chain beyond September.

"We're going to take things quarter after quarter," he said.

For analysts, the iPhone remains Apple's growth engine more than ever.

“5G phones are clearly selling well and seem to be taking market share from Android,” the mobile operating system from competitor Google, said Yoram Wurmser.

"Apple looks well positioned to achieve very strong iPhone sales over the next few quarters," he added in a note.

During the conference call, Tim Cook said that Apple now has 700 million paying subscribers to at least one of its services, which include the Apple Store app store, Apple Music or photo storage using the cloud. (remote computing).

Over one year, the apple giant has gained 150 million net subscribers.

© 2021 AFP