Apple posted another massive quarter at the end of 2020, pulling in $111.4 billion in revenue for a 21 percent increase and a new record. The company reported $95 billion in sales from products and $15.7 billion in Services, both huge increases from the same quarter in 2019.

The company reported $65.6 billion in sales from iPhones, $8.6 billion in Macs, $8.4 billion in iPads and $15.7 billion in wearables, home and accessories, all increases from the year before. 

The revenue number beat analysts’ expectations of $103.28 billion, Reuters reported. In an interview with that outlet, CEO Tim Cook said that Apple now has a global iPhone installed base of over 1 billion, and 1.65 billion devices overall.

The company posted a 41 percent increase in revenue from iPads, and more than 20 percent in Macs. Services revenue jumped by more than 20 percent.

“This quarter for Apple wouldn’t have been possible without the tireless and innovative work of every Apple team member worldwide,” Cook said in a statement. 

“We’re gratified by the enthusiastic customer response to the unmatched line of cutting-edge products that we delivered across a historic holiday season,” Cook said. “We are also focused on how we can help the communities we’re a part of build back strongly and equitably, through efforts like our Racial Equity and Justice Initiative as well as our multi-year commitment to invest $350 billion throughout the United States.”

“Our December quarter business performance was fueled by double-digit growth in each product category, which drove all-time revenue records in each of our geographic segments and an all-time high for our installed base of active devices,” Luca Maestri, Apple’s CFO, said in the release.

“These results helped us generate record operating cash flow of $38.8 billion,” Maestri said. “We also returned over $30 billion to shareholders during the quarter as we maintain our target of reaching a net cash neutral position over time.”

Analyst Daniel Ives of Wedbush Securities saw the importance of China to Apple's success. 

“China remains a key ingredient in Apple’s recipe for success as we estimate roughly 20% of iPhone upgrades will be coming from this region over the coming year,” Ives said in a note following the earnings release. 

“To this point, we are seeing considerable strength from the China region thus far with positive trends heading into 2021,” Ives said. “While services growth remains the key to the Apple re-rating story over the past six months, the hearts and lungs of the Apple growth story are built around iPhone installed base upgrades.”

The quarter, which ended December 27, included the late arrival of Apple’s 2020 iPhone lineup, which arrived in October and November last year rather than September. 

Apple also introduced its final hardware product of 2020, the AirPods Max, which received mostly positive reviews. 

The quarter also included a lot of speculation about the possibility of an Apple Car, although that’s likely years off. 

Stephen Silver, a technology writer for the National Interest, is a journalist, essayist and film critic, who is also a contributor to Philly Voice, Philadelphia Weekly, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Living Life Fearless, Backstage magazine, Broad Street Review and Splice Today. The co-founder of the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle, Stephen lives in suburban Philadelphia with his wife and two sons. Follow him on Twitter at @StephenSilver.

Image: Reuters