Hatimaye kampuni ya Apple imetoa taarifa rasmi juu ya ripoti ya mwaka
jana 2018, ambayo ilieleza kuwa mauzo ya iPhone yameshuka duniani.
Taarifa hiyo imeeleza kuwa Apple imeshusha kiwango cha matarajio ya
mapato kwa robo ya kwanza ya mwaka 2019 kutoka kiasi cha dola za
Marekani bilioni $89 na biloni $93 kwa mwaka 2018, hadi kiasi cha dola
za Marekani bilioni $84 kwa mwaka huu 2019.
Apple wamesema kuwa,
tatizo kubwa la kushuka kwa mauzo lilikuwa ni kushuka kwa soko la simu
za iPhone nchini china, ambapo Apple imedai kuwa ndipo panapo changia
mapato kwa kiasi kikubwa.
Mbali na hayo, Apple pia imetaja sababu
nyingine kuwa ni bei ya ubadilishaji wa betri wa simu hizo kushuka ndio
maana watu wengi zaidi walijikita kwenye kubadilisha betri za simu zao
zaidi kuliko kununua matoleo mapya ya simu hizo za iPhone.
Mbali
na mauzo ya iPhone kushuka, mauzo mangine ya bidhaa za Apple kama vile
Apple Watch, Apple Music, Apple iCloud na Apple Computer yameonekana
kuongezeka kwa kiasi kikubwa na kuripotiwa kutengeneza zaidi ya dola
bilioni $10.8 kwa mwaka jana 2018.
SOMA ZAIDI TAARIFA HIYO HAPA CHINI;
To
Apple investors:Today we are revising our guidance for Apple’s fiscal
2019 first quarter, which ended on December 29. We now expect the
following:
- Revenue of approximately $84 billion
- Gross margin of approximately 38 percent
- Operating expenses of approximately $8.7 billion
- Other income/(expense) of approximately $550 million
- Tax rate of approximately 16.5 percent before discrete items
We
expect the number of shares used in computing diluted EPS to be
approximately 4.77 billion.Based on these estimates, our revenue will be
lower than our original guidance for the quarter, with other items
remaining broadly in line with our guidance. While it will be a number
of weeks before we complete and report our final results, we wanted to
get some preliminary information to you now. Our final results may
differ somewhat from these preliminary estimates. When we discussed our
Q1 guidance with you about 60 days ago, we knew the first quarter would
be impacted by both macroeconomic and Apple-specific factors. Based on
our best estimates of how these would play out, we predicted that we
would report slight revenue growth year-over-year for the quarter. As
you may recall, we discussed four factors:First, we knew the different
timing of our iPhone launches would affect our year-over-year compares.
Our top models, iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max, shipped in Q4’18—placing
the channel fill and early sales in that quarter, whereas last year
iPhone X shipped in Q1’18, placing the channel fill and early sales in
the December quarter. We knew this would create a difficult compare for
Q1’19, and this played out broadly in line with our expectations.Second,
we knew the strong US dollar would create foreign exchange headwinds
and forecasted this would reduce our revenue growth by about 200 basis
points as compared to the previous year. This also played out broadly in
line with our expectations.Third, we knew we had an unprecedented
number of new products to ramp during the quarter and predicted that
supply constraints would gate our sales of certain products during Q1.
Again, this also played out broadly in line with our expectations. Sales
of Apple Watch Series 4 and iPad Pro were constrained much or all of
the quarter. AirPods and MacBook Air were also constrained.Fourth, we
expected economic weakness in some emerging markets. This turned out to
have a significantly greater impact than we had projected. In addition,
these and other factors resulted in fewer iPhone upgrades than we had
anticipated. These last two points have led us to reduce our revenue
guidance. I’d like to go a bit deeper on both.
Emerging Market ChallengesWhile
we anticipated some challenges in key emerging markets, we did not
foresee the magnitude of the economic deceleration, particularly in
Greater China. In fact, most of our revenue shortfall to our guidance,
and over 100 percent of our year-over-year worldwide revenue decline,
occurred in Greater China across iPhone, Mac and iPad.China’s economy
began to slow in the second half of 2018. The government-reported GDP
growth during the September quarter was the second lowest in the last 25
years. We believe the economic environment in China has been further
impacted by rising trade tensions with the United States. As the climate
of mounting uncertainty weighed on financial markets, the effects
appeared to reach consumers as well, with traffic to our retail stores
and our channel partners in China declining as the quarter progressed.
And market data has shown that the contraction in Greater China’s
smartphone market has been particularly sharp.Despite these challenges,
we believe that our business in China has a bright future. The iOS
developer community in China is among the most innovative, creative and
vibrant in the world. Our products enjoy a strong following among
customers, with a very high level of engagement and satisfaction. Our
results in China include a new record for Services revenue, and our
installed base of devices grew over the last year. We are proud to
participate in the Chinese marketplace.
iPhoneLower than
anticipated iPhone revenue, primarily in Greater China, accounts for
all of our revenue shortfall to our guidance and for much more than our
entire year-over-year revenue decline. In fact, categories outside of
iPhone (Services, Mac, iPad, Wearables/Home/Accessories) combined to
grow almost 19 percent year-over-year. While Greater China and other
emerging markets accounted for the vast majority of the year-over-year
iPhone revenue decline, in some developed markets, iPhone upgrades also
were not as strong as we thought they would be. While macroeconomic
challenges in some markets were a key contributor to this trend, we
believe there are other factors broadly impacting our iPhone
performance, including consumers adapting to a world with fewer carrier
subsidies, US dollar strength-related price increases, and some
customers taking advantage of significantly reduced pricing for iPhone
battery replacements.
Many Positive Results in the December QuarterWhile
it’s disappointing to revise our guidance, our performance in many
areas showed remarkable strength in spite of these challenges. Our
installed base of active devices hit a new all-time high—growing by more
than 100 million units in 12 months. There are more Apple devices being
used than ever before, and it’s a testament to the ongoing loyalty,
satisfaction and engagement of our customers. Also, as I mentioned
earlier, revenue outside of our iPhone business grew by almost 19
percent year-over-year, including all-time record revenue from Services,
Wearables and Mac. Our non-iPhone businesses have less exposure to
emerging markets, and the vast majority of Services revenue is related
to the size of the installed base, not current period sales. Services
generated over $10.8 billion in revenue during the quarter, growing to a
new quarterly record in every geographic segment, and we are on track
to achieve our goal of doubling the size of this business from 2016 to
2020.Wearables grew by almost 50 percent year-over-year, as Apple Watch
and AirPods were wildly popular among holiday shoppers; launches of
MacBook Air and Mac mini powered the Mac to year-over-year revenue
growth and the launch of the new iPad Pro drove iPad to year-over-year
double-digit revenue growth. We also expect to set all-time revenue
records in several developed countries, including the United States,
Canada, Germany, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands and Korea. And, while we
saw challenges in some emerging markets, others set records, including
Mexico, Poland, Malaysia and Vietnam.Finally, we also expect to report a
new all-time record for Apple’s earnings per share.
Looking AheadOur
profitability and cash flow generation are strong, and we expect to
exit the quarter with approximately $130 billion in net cash. As we have
stated before, we plan to become net-cash neutral over time.As we exit a
challenging quarter, we are as confident as ever in the fundamental
strength of our business. We manage Apple for the long term, and Apple
has always used periods of adversity to re-examine our approach, to take
advantage of our culture of flexibility, adaptability and creativity,
and to emerge better as a result. Most importantly, we are confident and
excited about our pipeline of future products and services. Apple
innovates like no other company on earth, and we are not taking our foot
off the gas.We can’t change macroeconomic conditions, but we are
undertaking and accelerating other initiatives to improve our results.
One such initiative is making it simple to trade in a phone in our
stores, finance the purchase over time, and get help transferring data
from the current to the new phone. This is not only great for the
environment, it is great for the customer, as their existing phone acts
as a subsidy for their new phone, and it is great for developers, as it
can help grow our installed base. This is one of a number of steps we
are taking to respond. We can make these adjustments because Apple’s
strength is in our resilience, the talent and creativity of our team,
and the deeply held passion for the work we do every day.Expectations
are high for Apple because they should be. We are committed to exceeding
those expectations every day.That has always been the Apple way, and it
always will be.TimThe information presented in this letter is
preliminary and our actual results may differ. Apple plans to discuss
final results during our first quarter conference call on Tuesday,
January 29, 2019 at 2:00 p.m. PST / 5:00 p.m. EST.This letter contains
forward-looking statements, within the meaning of the Private Securities
Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements include
without limitation those about Apple’s estimated revenue, gross margin,
operating expenses, other income/(expense), tax rate, net cash, share
count and plans for return of capital. These statements involve risks
and uncertainties, and actual results may differ. Risks and
uncertainties include without limitation: the effect of global and
regional economic conditions on Apple’s business, including effects on
purchasing decisions by consumers and businesses; the ability of Apple
to compete in markets that are highly competitive and subject to rapid
technological change; the ability of Apple to manage frequent
introductions and transitions of products and services, including
delivering to the marketplace, and stimulating customer demand for, new
products, services and technological innovations on a timely basis; the
effect that shifts in the mix of products and services and in the
geographic, currency or channel mix, component cost increases, price
competition, or the introduction of new products, including new products
with higher cost structures, could have on Apple’s gross margin; the
dependency of Apple on the performance of distributors of Apple’s
products, including cellular network carriers and other resellers; the
inventory and other asset risks associated with Apple’s need to order,
or commit to order, product components in advance of customer orders;
the continued availability on acceptable terms, or at all, of certain
components, services and new technologies essential to Apple’s business,
including components and technologies that may only be available from
single or limited sources; the dependency of Apple on manufacturing and
logistics services provided by third parties, many of which are located
outside of the US and which may affect the quality, quantity or cost of
products manufactured or services rendered to Apple; the effect of
product and services design and manufacturing defects on Apple’s
financial performance and reputation; the dependency of Apple on
third-party intellectual property and digital content, which may not be
available to Apple on commercially reasonable terms or at all; the
dependency of Apple on support from third-party software developers to
develop and maintain software applications and services for Apple’s
products; the impact of unfavorable legal proceedings, such as a
potential finding that Apple has infringed on the intellectual property
rights of others; the impact of changes to laws and regulations that
affect Apple’s activities, including Apple’s ability to offer products
or services to customers in different regions; the ability of Apple to
manage risks associated with its international activities, including
complying with laws and regulations affecting Apple’s international
operations; the ability of Apple to manage risks associated with Apple’s
retail stores; the ability of Apple to manage risks associated with
Apple’s investments in new business strategies and acquisitions; the
impact on Apple’s business and reputation from information technology
system failures, network disruptions or losses or unauthorized access
to, or release of, confidential information; the ability of Apple to
comply with laws and regulations regarding data protection; the
continued service and availability of key executives and employees;
political events, international trade disputes, war, terrorism, natural
disasters, public health issues, and other business interruptions that
could disrupt supply or delivery of, or demand for, Apple’s products;
financial risks, including risks relating to currency fluctuations,
credit risks and fluctuations in the market value of Apple’s investment
portfolio; and changes in tax rates and exposure to additional tax
liabilities. More information on these risks and other potential factors
that could affect Apple’s financial results is included in Apple’s
filings with the SEC, including in the “Risk Factors” and “Management’s
Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of
Operations” sections of Apple’s most recently filed periodic reports on
Form 10-K and Form 10-Q and subsequent filings. Apple assumes no
obligation to update any forward-looking statements or information,
which speak as of their respective dates.Apple revolutionized personal
technology with the introduction of the Macintosh in 1984. Today, Apple
leads the world in innovation with iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch and
Apple TV. Apple’s four software platforms — iOS, macOS, watchOS and tvOS
— provide seamless experiences across all Apple devices and empower
people with breakthrough services including the App Store, Apple Music,
Apple Pay and iCloud. Apple’s more than 100,000 employees are dedicated
to making the best products on earth, and to leaving the world better
than we found it.
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