Apple Boosts iPhone Sales Significantly, Revenue Up 36%
Google Grows 69% Driven by Surge in Economic Reopening Ad Demand
MS Leads Overall Cloud Revenue Growth Centered on Azure
[Asia Economy Reporter Yujin Cho] US big tech companies including Apple, Alphabet (Google's parent company), and Microsoft (MS) posted earnings in the second quarter that significantly exceeded market expectations.
On the 27th (local time), Apple announced that its second-quarter revenue (Apple's own fiscal third quarter) reached $81.41 billion (approximately 94 trillion KRW), a 36% increase compared to the same period last year. This surpassed Wall Street's estimate ($73.3 billion) by about 11%.
iPhone sales amounted to $39.57 billion, up 49.8% year-over-year. Revenue increased across all segments including Services (33%), Other Products (40%), Mac computers (16%), and iPad sales (12%).
Alphabet, Google's parent company, also benefited from the reopening of the economy post-COVID-19 and delivered earnings at a surprise level.
Alphabet's second-quarter revenue rose 62% year-over-year to $61.88 billion (approximately 71.41 trillion KRW), significantly exceeding Wall Street's estimate of $56.16 billion.
Operating income for the same period increased 31% to $19.361 billion, and net income nearly tripled (166%) to $18.525 billion. Earnings per share were $27.26, far surpassing market expectations of $19.34.
The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported that Google's surprising earnings are attributed to increased online advertising demand from companies preparing for the post-COVID-19 economic reopening.
Google's advertising revenue reached $50.44 billion, a 69% increase compared to $29.87 billion in the same period last year, which was impacted by the COVID-19 crisis. YouTube revenue nearly doubled (84%) to $7 billion compared to $3.81 billion last year, exceeding market expectations of $6.37 billion.
Microsoft (MS) also posted strong results in the second quarter (MS's own fiscal fourth quarter), with earnings per share of $2.17, a 49% increase year-over-year. This exceeded market expectations of $1.92.
Revenue for the same period rose 21% year-over-year to $46.15 billion (approximately 53.26 trillion KRW), surpassing market expectations of $44.24 billion. Operating income increased 42% to $19.1 billion compared to the same period last year.
Strong performance was driven by MS's cloud segment centered on Azure, which recorded revenue of $17.38 billion, a 30% increase year-over-year.
Azure, competing with Amazon's AWS in cloud services, grew 51% in the second quarter, exceeding market forecasts of 45.3%, continuing its rapid growth following 50% growth in the first quarter.
Satya Nadella, MS CEO, explained, "Commercial cloud, gaming, and security are driving overall growth," adding, "LinkedIn, a subsidiary acquired in 2016, has maintained a trend of surpassing $10 billion in annual revenue over the past three years."
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