Tech results mixed: Apple faces China slowdown, Amazon rides AI growth

US tech giant Apple saw sales in China extend a decline, while Amazon topped market expectations with strong guidance.

Apple and Amazon have reported their September-quarter earnings with mixed results, shedding light on the intensifying race in artificial intelligence (AI) and challenges in China. Apple shares dipped 2% in after-hours trading due to ongoing weakness in China’s sales and disappointing guidance. Amazon’s stocks rose more than 5% amid steady growth in its AI-led AWS cloud and positive outlooks into the holiday season.

Apple signals Chinese sales weakness but otherwise strong quarterly performance

Apple’s sales revenue in Greater China, Apple’s third-largest market behind the US and Europe, fell 0.3% from a year earlier, extending a decline for a year. Despite a better performance compared with a 6.5% drop last year, expectations were high, with investors hoping for a significant rebound amid Apple Intelligence-led sales.

Apple released its latest handset, the iPhone 16, more than a month ahead of the earnings release and only launched iOS 18.1, which enables AI features, earlier this week. The delay may have impacted iPhone sales alongside fierce competition from Chinese smartphone makers.

Otherwise, Apple topped analysts’ expectations in overall performance, with its revenue reaching an all-time high for the September quarter to $94.93bn (€87.22bn), up 6.1% from a year ago, exceeding the estimated 5.7% annual growth. iPhone sales reached $46.22bn (€42.47bn), representing a 6% increase from the same quarter last year, surpassing market expectations.

However, net income has been significantly impacted by a one-time charge related to “the impact of the reversal of the European General Court’s State Aid decision”, Apple stated, leading to earnings per share of $0.97 (€0.89). Excluding the charge, earnings per share would have shown a 12% growth to $1.64 (€1.51). The world’s largest company expects a low-to-mid-single-digit range of growth for the December quarter, lower than the anticipated 7% annual increase.

Another key metric, Services revenue, remained the most profitable segment with steady growth momentum, reporting revenue of $24.97bn (€22.94bn), an increase of 12% from a year ago, slowing slightly from 14% in the previous quarter. CFO Luca Maestri expects services revenue to continue double-digit growth in the current quarter. iPad sales rose 8% year-on-year, also slowing from a 24% surge in the June quarter.

Compared with other tech giants, Apple seems to be lagging in the AI race with no promising progress in monetising its Apple Intelligence applications. Meanwhile, it may face ongoing challenges with European regulations, as third-party payment requirements could squeeze profitability.

However, a market analyst from Oanda, Josh Gilbert believes that Apple is still a valuable stock for investors: “This is just a temporary setback, not the end of the story,” he said.

Amazon tops market expectations in all metrics

In contrast, Amazon presented a much stronger result to investors, surpassing market expectations across all top and bottom lines.

Overall revenue reached $158.88bn (€146bn), up 11% from a year earlier, topping the estimated $157.2bn. The most profitable segment, advertising sales, rose 19% year-on-year to $14.3bn (€13.14bn), slightly below estimates.

The AI-supported AWS revenue grew 19% to $27.45bn (€25.22bn), with AWS holding the largest global market share, followed by Microsoft’s Azure and Alphabet’s Google Cloud. Additionally, its biggest revenue contributor, online store sales rose 7% year on year to $61.4bn (€56.42bn).

Amazon also exceeded analysts’ guidance expectations for the upcoming quarter, projecting revenue of $188.5bn in the December quarter, fuelled by strong holiday sales, above the estimated $186.4bn.

CEO Andy Jassy commented: “As we get into the holiday season, we’re excited about what we have in store for customers.”

He also hinted at the unveiling of AI advancements: “There’s so much more coming, from tens of millions of deals to our NFL Black Friday game and Election Day coverage with Brian Williams on Prime Video, and over 100 new cloud infrastructure and AI capabilities that we’ll share at AWS re: the week after Thanksgiving.”

However, Amazon’s capital expenditure surged 81% from last year to $22.62bn, indicating a similar trend among tech giants of escalating investment in AI infrastructure.

CFO Brian Olsavsky noted during the earnings call that most of this spending aims to support the growing demand for technological advancements. The e-commerce giant reported disappointing earnings for the June quarter, as investors increasingly questioned whether its substantial spending would be justified by its growth trajectory.