Apple Stock News: Third Quarter Results
Apple Stock News: Apple announced financial results for its fiscal 2022 third quarter ended June 25, 2022. The company posted a quarterly revenue record of $83.0 billion, up 2 percent year over year, and quarterly earnings per diluted share of $1.20. According to Tim Cook, “This quarter’s record results speak to Apple’s constant efforts to innovate, to advance new possibilities, and to enrich the lives of our customers”. Apple’s board of directors has declared a cash dividend of $0.23 per share of the Company’s common stock. The dividend is payable on August 11, 2022 to shareholders of record as of the close of business on August 8, 2022.
Scaling Up iPhone 14 Orders
According to DigiTimes, Apple has expanded orders for components for the iPhone 14. Apple has reportedly increased parts orders from suppliers ahead of the launch of its iPhone 14 line in September. This is in stark contrast to a range of Android brands, which continue to face sluggish sales, according to supply chain sources at DigiTimes.
Apple is believed to be the only smartphone vendor whose sales have held steady in recent months, with significant year-over-year growth. The strong sales performance of the current iPhone lineup has encouraged Apple to step up preparations later this year after it cut initial chip orders for the iPhone 14 model in anticipation of falling demand. That’s in line with a report earlier this month that said Apple’s “iPhone 14” model is expected to sell better than its iPhone 13 line.
iPhone sales typically slow between July and August as customers anticipate the launch of new models in September, but iPhone 13 shipments were reported to be a third higher in July than in the same month last year, suggesting continued demand for the device. Apple is said to have informed suppliers that initial sales of the iPhone 14 will be higher than that of the iPhone 13. Meanwhile, the mid-to-low-end smartphone market, dominated by Android devices, has struggled over the past year amid weakening demand. Android chip supplier Mediatek has reported a drop in customer orders of as much as 30 percent, showing this.
Apple Has Applied for 248 Car-Related Patents Since 2000
Apple has filed and published 248 automobile-related patents since 2000, according to research conducted by Japanese news site Nikkei and Tokyo-based analytics firm Intellectual Property Landscape. The patents cover autonomous driving technology, ride comfort, seats, suspension, navigation, battery management, vehicle-to-everything (V2X) connectivity for vehicle-to-vehicle communication, and more. Apple filed the most patents related to communications and navigation, followed by autonomous driving.
After Apple files a patent application, it takes about 18 months to release it. Apple has so far published eight car-related patents from 2021, but more should be awarded later this year, with the number of patents published in 2021 expected to exceed the number Apple published in 2020.
Auto-related patent filings began to pick up in 2016 after fewer than 10 a year in the 2010s, with Apple filing 44 of them. Patent applications increased further in 2017 when Apple filed a record of 66 applications. Apple has recently been rumored to have ambitious plans for its self-driving car, aiming to change the car market in the same way the iPhone changed the smartphone market. Apple is exploring a design with four seats facing inward and no steering wheel or brake pedals. There’s no news yet on when the Apple Car will be released, but reliable sources like Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman and Apple analyst Ming-chi Kuo say Apple is aiming for 2025.
Apple Likely Held Off on the M1 Mac Pro
Apple had a Mac Pro equipped with the M1 Apple silicon chip ready to ship and launch to customers “months ago,” but ultimately decided to wait until later this year to launch the “M2 Extreme” “Mac Pro. Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman predicts that a preview version of the high-end Apple chip, the “Mac Pro,” will be released later this year and launched in early 2023. Gurman noted that Apple had initially planned to release the “Mac Pro” during WWDC this year, but those plans apparently didn’t pan out. Gurman also said he doesn’t expect to redesign the Mac Mini, after rumors that it might get a facelift. The updated Mac Mini will simply be a specification boost for the M2 chip.