Apple's wearables revenue up more than 50 percent in Q4

AppleInsider

Sales of Apple wearables like AirPods and the Apple Watch grew more than 50 percent year-over-year during the fourth quarter, CEO Tim Cook said in announcing results on Thursday.

Apple Watch and AirPods

Cook revealed the gains during the company's usual earnings call, though he didn't provide any specific breakdown on models or unit sales -- as is typical.

Devices such as the Apple Watch and AirPods make up part of the "other products" category of Apple's financials which raked in $4.2 billion during the quarter.

In quarter three, Apple reported that wearables were up 60 percent YoY for the June quarter.

Apple pulled in $62.9B worth of revenue on sales of 46.9M iPhones in its record-breaking September quarter.

mac_128

How do we know the "wearables" revenue is what's up over 50%? There are plenty of non-wearable products being sold in the "Other" category which includes wearables. 

It's interesting that the Other category has maintained a 5-7% share of Apple's overall profits since the Apple Watch was released, despite growth that seems to outpace Apple's earnings overall. 

Andrew_OSU

mac_128 said:

How do we know the "wearables" revenue is what's up over 50%? There are plenty of non-wearable products being sold in the "Other" category which includes wearables. 

Cook cited wearables, not "other products".

k2kw

mac_128 said:

How do we know the "wearables" revenue is what's up over 50%? There are plenty of non-wearable products being sold in the "Other" category which includes wearables. 

Somehow I don’t think that the HomePod contributed much to the Financials .

mac_128

Andrew_OSU said:

mac_128 said:

How do we know the "wearables" revenue is what's up over 50%? There are plenty of non-wearable products being sold in the "Other" category which includes wearables. 

Cook cited wearables, not "other products".

Ah, I see. Thanks for the clarification. That would explain why the average share of earnings remained consistent with past quarters, despite having 50% growth. So Cook may have just let some details slip -- Watches and AirPods are doing very well, while HomePods, Apple TVs, and the rest not so much. I'd still bet AirPods are contributing more to the bottomline of "Wearables" than AppleWatches, but who knows.

chasm

Corrections: first to Andrew -- Apple did not make $62.9B in revenue "on sales of 46.9M iPhones." As mentioned, the iPhone revenue was $37.2 billion. You're confusing the total revenue with the iPhone revenue.

Mac_128: Apple TVs seem to be selling very well, actually -- they are consistently estimated to be the #2 or #3 set-top box brand. I can't claim to know whether AirPods are outselling Apple Watches, but Watch growth has been estimated to be accelerating nicely (with no such claim about AirPods) -- and I guarantee Apple makes more money off every Watch than they do off every AirPod set.

mac_128

chasm said:

Corrections: first to Andrew -- Apple did not make $62.9B in revenue "on sales of 46.9M iPhones." As mentioned, the iPhone revenue was $37.2 billion. You're confusing the total revenue with the iPhone revenue.

Mac_128: Apple TVs seem to be selling very well, actually -- they are consistently estimated to be the #2 or #3 set-top box brand. I can't claim to know whether AirPods are outselling Apple Watches, but Watch growth has been estimated to be accelerating nicely (with no such claim about AirPods) -- and I guarantee Apple makes more money off every Watch than they do off every AirPod set.

Granted my AirPod guess is based on purely anecdotal experience. I know far more wearing them, than Watches, on an exponential order. As for the claim that Apple makes far more on every watch, I kinda doubt it. The airports are little plastic buds, with some silicon embedded, a radio, battery and some transducers. They retail for over $150. I can't imagine the parts and production cost is anywhere close to the cost of the Watch, much less the development costs. Now the watch has some seriously overpriced bands which are almost pure profit, so maybe there's something to be said for that offsetting the actual watch costs. But I'll continue to bet my virtual money on the AirPods until we get something more concrete. 

ihatescreennames

mac_128 said:

chasm said:

Corrections: first to Andrew -- Apple did not make $62.9B in revenue "on sales of 46.9M iPhones." As mentioned, the iPhone revenue was $37.2 billion. You're confusing the total revenue with the iPhone revenue.

Mac_128: Apple TVs seem to be selling very well, actually -- they are consistently estimated to be the #2 or #3 set-top box brand. I can't claim to know whether AirPods are outselling Apple Watches, but Watch growth has been estimated to be accelerating nicely (with no such claim about AirPods) -- and I guarantee Apple makes more money off every Watch than they do off every AirPod set.

I know far more wearing them, than Watches, on an exponential order.

For me it’s the opposite, I see AirPods occasionally in use but I see people with Apple Watch on all the time, every day. And several people I know with Apple Watches don’t seem to know what AirPods are.

matrix077

chasm said:

Corrections: first to Andrew -- Apple did not make $62.9B in revenue "on sales of 46.9M iPhones." As mentioned, the iPhone revenue was $37.2 billion. You're confusing the total revenue with the iPhone revenue.

Mac_128: Apple TVs seem to be selling very well, actually -- they are consistently estimated to be the #2 or #3 set-top box brand. I can't claim to know whether AirPods are outselling Apple Watches, but Watch growth has been estimated to be accelerating nicely (with no such claim about AirPods) -- and I guarantee Apple makes more money off every Watch than they do off every AirPod set.

The number for this quarter is for watch S3 I believe. The number for S4 will be much better. 

christopher126

ihatescreennames said:

mac_128 said:

For me it’s the opposite, I see AirPods occasionally in use but I see people with Apple Watch on all the time, every day. And several people I know with Apple Watches don’t seem to know what AirPods are.

Anecdotal: But I'm seeing more and more people wearing AirPods.

Apple's ultimate replacement for the iPod is not the iPhone, but an AppleWatch and a set of AirPods. I know, a bit expensive, but there you go!

wanderso

I just wish that airpods fit my ears without falling out. 

beowulfschmidt

wanderso said:

I just wish that airpods fit my ears without falling out. 

Your ears are shaped wrong.
/s