How long can Apple keep relying on the iPhone ? Nobody knows , because there ’s never been another product quite like it . But the chubby golden goofball in history is n’t blend to keep lay nut eternally .
Apple , to its credit , is fully mindful of this . With its enthusiastic hyping of the latest cautious iPhone update , the society might at times sound faintly deluded : a little like the gentleman in the old joke who falls out of a edifice and says to the people on each floor as he passes , “ Everything ’s fine so far ! ” But Apple is doing its undecomposed to find a cushion to put down on .
In the company’slatest fiscal results , we set out an theme of how the cushion hunt is going , and the answer is “ pretty well . ” Tim Cook named Q1 2025 as Apple ’s best poop ever , with record tax income of $ 124.3 billion despite a small twelvemonth - on - class dip in the iPhone ’s fortunes . Who ask the iPhone when you have consistent increase in services to make up for any shortfalls ?
It ’s certainly gratifying for the company to record its highest - ever quarterly revenue after launching one of its most boring iPhones ( whichdidn’t even have its flagship featureat launching ) . But there are concerns we should talk over before we break out the champagne .
One is that irrespective of growth in other arena , the iPhone remains Apple ’s most of import product by an insalubrious leeway . That burgeoning Services division , a portmanteau word class coalesce various tenuously come to revenue streams , bring in a sum of $ 26.3 billion , compare to the iPhone ’s $ 69.1 billion . Wearables , Home , and accoutrement brought in a combined $ 11.7 billion , the iPad just $ 8.1 billion , and Macs $ 7.8 billion . In first place , there ’s the iPhone . In second place is day . And only then do we get to the other production .
In that light , it becomes a little clearer that simply growing service is n’t the straightforward solution to the iPhone ’s eventual decline that it might sound like . This quarter , hearty ontogenesis in services and iPads was just about enough to make up for atinydrop for the iPhone . We ’re still at a point where if the iPhone sneeze , Apple fascinate a coldness . This was n’t a sneeze . It was hardly the first “ Aaahh … ”
At some head , the iPhone will meet a substantial setback , and we do n’t yet know how Apple will handle that . Last workweek , enquiry found that buyers of premium iPhones are becomingless inclinedto pay extra for more storage , which could become a headache if it turns into a long - full term trend . Apple has historically made alotof money from iPhone store upgrade , but with the rise of music streaming and swarm exposure storage , there does n’t seem to be quite the same requirement .
For a company of Apple ’s sizing , it is n’t easy to pivot , and it should be applauded for try its in force to do so . By work up a miscellaneous - reality headset and an AI platform Apple has place itself for two possible post - smartphone futures , and by rise Apple TV+ and its other subscription services it has shored up revenues in the shortsighted to medium terminal figure . These are all positive steps . But the pivot has n’t yet been tested . Dip or not , this was another larger-than-life quarter from the iPhone , and we do n’t yet know what will find when the good times finally number to an last .
Foundry
receive to our weekly Apple Breakfast column , which includes all the Apple news you missed last week in a ready to hand bite - sized roundup . We call it Apple Breakfast because we think it plump great with a Monday morning cup of coffee berry or tea , but it ’s coolheaded if you desire to give it a read during lunch or dinner hours too .
DeepSeekis making everyone bet silly except Apple , reckons the Macalope .
Have yourestarted your MacBookthis week?You should , pleads Michael Simon .
Stephan Wiesendexplainswhy your VPNisn’t as unattackable as you think .
Your nextiPhone and Macmightcost a whole lot morethanks to political broker .
Apple ’s get-up-and-go into thesmart homeis a decade previous butright on sentence .
Apple should smarten up theHomePod miniskirt 2withthese 5 upgrades .
This MacBook Prowastoo bustedfor even AppleCare+ to repair !
Apple honorsBlack History Monthwithcolor - morphing Apple Watch band .
Podcast of the week
Apple released an update to iOS , so what should you expect ? In the late episode of the Macworld podcast we take a look atwhat ’s in iOS 18.3 , plus babble out about the latest Apple news .
you could capture every instalment of the Macworld Podcast onSpotify , Soundcloud , thePodcasts app , orour own situation .
Reviews corner
The rumor mill
New leakgives us a clear smell at theiPhone SE 4 – with a notch . It seems rumors of a Dynamic Islandwere mistaken .
Software updates, bugs, and problems
SLAP and FLOP browser app vulnerabilitiesthreatennearly every Apple devicesince 2021 .
Whoops!Apple accidentallybreaks watchOS updateson older devices .
Thelatest iPhone updatepatches a security flawexploited since 2023 .
We assail up5 small ( but still kind of big ) changescoming to your iPhone iniOS 18.3 .
On which matter , some iPhone exploiter will soon get a‘secret addition’after upgrading toiOS 18.3 .
