Apple

Apple: Q1 2023 less tough than expected for UBS, but it won’t be the year of recovery

January 24, 2023

The well-known difficulties suffered by Foxconn due to Covid in China, and consequently by Apple, which slowed down and at some point even stopped the production of the two iPhone 14 Pros close to the Christmas period, will have consequences on Apple’s financial results for the first quarter of fiscal 2023. We will essentially see them in the numbers to be released shortly (not iPhones, Apple always keeps them to itself), but UBS analysts explain that they will be tempered by the effects of a weak dollar against other strong currencies, such as the euro.

A combination of external circumstances contrasting that they will almost cancel each other out. According to analysts, Apple closed the quarter with 79 million iPhones shipped, less than the target of 80 million but definitely more than the worst forecast set at 74 million units. Apple, if you like, was lucky. Sara the contribution of blindfolded goddess on 2023 is a little less relevantwhich for UBS anyway it will not be the year of redemption on a 2022 in chiaroscuro.

In fact, Apple is expected to close the current year with a 3% decline on 2022 by number of iPhones shipped from factories to Apple Stores and retailers, 232 million out of a target of 238 million. The financial institution recounts that the forecast could have been worse if the drop in sales in the so-called developed economies were not offset at least in part by the sales growth in so-called developing economiesamong which India is mentioned (where, moreover, a large part of the production of the iPhones is to be moved).

Luck has only a little to do with it, evidently Apple will reap the benefits of a process of consolidating its presence in emerging economies that started some time ago. The UBS report highlights how Apple customers are not very interested in non-Pro models, or rather how the fluctuations in the availability of the various models in the range, which was rather pronounced at the start of winter, had little influence on purchasing decisions. Although there were few iPhone 14 Pro and 14 Pro Max in physical and online stores, those who wanted a Pro did not fall back on an iPhone 14 or a 14 Plus: the Approximately 56% of iPhones shipped to the US during the quarter were Pro modelsaccording to estimates.