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Record sales of Apple MacBook and iPad products could be bad news for Microsoft

Popularity and demand for Apple's family of products is continuing to grow, with hardware like the MacBook Air and iPad Pro M1 selling in record numbers, announcing revenue of $81.4 billion between April and June, a 36% increase on last year.

The same earnings report shows the Mac category brought in $8.8 billion alone, up from $6.5 billion during the same fiscal quarter last year (though down from $9.1 billion in the second quarter), which may indicate that the high demands for hardware that stemmed from a sudden increase in working from home environments may be continuing to contribute to high sales, as suggested by Mac Rumors.

The 'Work From Home' trend continues

Luca Maestri, Apple’s CFO said in the report, "Our record June quarter operating performance included new revenue records in each of our geographic segments, double-digit growth in each of our product categories, and a new all-time high for our installed base of active devices."

"We generated $21 billion of operating cash flow, returned nearly $29 billion to our shareholders during the quarter, and continued to make significant investments across our business to support our long-term growth plans."

With the report detailing sales of newly released products like the new Mac mini and M1 MacBook Pro, it would certainly seem like people are anticipating working from home for the foreseeable future, or at least adopt a hybrid style of working. 

Analysis: Can it last?

Apple MacBook Air (M1,2020) Rear Lid

(Image credit: Future)

While a great deal of Apple's financial report details things like phone sales and services revenue, the companies' success in the personal computer space is impressive, given the ongoing component shortages and increasing competition from rival brands such as Microsoft.

The MacBook Air (M1, 2020) is currently sitting at the top of our best laptops list for a good reason, offering excellent performance, battery life and importantly, value. Where Apple laptops and computers have historically been on the pricier side, it's now hard to argue with the quality you get in exchange for your hard-earned cash.

This isn't to say that other brands such as Dell or Microsoft are currently suffering from Apple's success. Many tech and hardware manufacturers saw revenue increases over the last 12-18 months thanks to the skyrocketing demand for home office equipment, but we're keen to watch how these reports look over the next year as things return to 'normal' however to get a better image at how the Mac range of products is faring against Windows-based rivals on the market.

Apple's own M1 chipset may be a new kid on the block but the steady demand for new Mac products shows that folk are more than happy to make the switch from older Intel-powered Macs. It'll be interesting to see if sales remain strong when Apple's silicon chip gets an update, currently speculated to be the M1X that will power a long-rumored new generation of MacBook Pro devices.



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