Supply issues cost Apple $6 billion but customers don’t care

Apple CEO Tim Cook blamed Apple’s fall in revenue over larger-than-expected supply constraints, but experts says customers are unphased

Apple revenue fell short of Wall Street expectations in its fourth quarter earnings.

However, Apple’s overall revenue was still up 29 per cent and each of its product categories grew on an annual basis.  

Cook still expects Apple to have solid growth by the end of the year. But how will it hit green as the tech giant faces more supply chain woes?

Macrumors reporter Sami Fathi told tickerNEWS Apple continues to grow, and customers will continue to stay loyal to the brand despite its challenges.

“Compared to last year, there is solid growth across the board,” he said.

iPhone sales were up 47 per cent year-over-year, but still came in under Wall Street estimates.

“They did miss expectations, but Wall Street can be pretty tough to satisfy sometimes.”

Apple’s annual revenue for its fiscal 2021 was up 33 per cent from 2020 to $366 billion.

This quarter marks the first time since April 2016 that Apple has failed to beat earnings estimates

“Mac is in this Renaissance moment”

However, Fathi says Apple is stronger than ever when it comes to its product offerings

“If you look at every product category, every single one is I think the strongest it’s ever been, if you look at the Mac, the Mac is sort of in this renaissance moment,” he said.

“Every product category is very strong. We still have the holiday quarter coming up, which is used the very solid quarter for Apple so I’m overly optimistic for what’s income.”

What about supply chain woes?

Cook said the global chip shortages is really impacting product availability and cost Apple around $6 billion in losses this quarter.

Fathi says customers are willing to wait for their new products.

“If you really think about it, in practice, a lot of customers are willing to wait very long times to get their products,” he said.

“I mean, I know people who are still waiting for their iPhones that they ordered weeks ago. So while these you know, shortages are obviously concerning, I think the broader picture is that customers are willing to wait very, very long times to get their products.”