2 May 2025
If you are covering Apple’s latest financial results, please find below a comment from Ben Barringer, global technology analyst at Quilter Cheviot:
“With Apple right at the epicentre of the tariff drama, today’s results will leave it breathing a sigh of relief given things could be about to get a lot more challenging. Revenues were up 5%, with sales of the iPhone up 2%, meanwhile Apple Intelligence continues to be delayed as it looks to get it right. These are okay numbers, but perhaps most crucially sales in China are beginning to improve and the company is not seeing any boycotting of Apple products yet in response to the tariffs imposed.
“’Yet’ is the important word for Apple, as it flies into the unknown. It has said it will see a $900m hit to earnings based on how things stand today. This is tiny for a company of Apple’s size, but the fear is there is much more to come. We don’t know if the 90-day pause will be extended, or even if punitive tariffs will be abandoned altogether. There is also still the real threat that additional tariffs are introduced, as Trump has threatened to do for semiconductors. Apple is at the eye of the storm and won’t be able to find a way out easily.
“For now, it is mitigating some of the impact by shipping iPhone products for the US from India and iPads from Vietnam. Again, this may work for now but the US administration is unlikely to look kindly on such tactics and thus further mitigation may be required. Apple has said it has not seen any stockpiling or pull forward of sales, and there is to be no change in its pricing strategy at this stage. The uncertainty will build again, however, so it may struggle to keep that position for long.”
