Apple reported record sales in the holiday quarter, beating estimates as it benefited from high iPhone demand in China and withstood constraints caused by supply chain disruptions and the Omicron variant.
Executives attributed the strong quarter to the success of its products, reporting record holiday iPhone sales in late 2021. It also launched several new products in the fall, including new models of the Apple Watch, iPad, MacBook Pro computer and AirPods.
But the successful quarter shows Apple is more resistant than other tech companies to those constraints, said Tom Johnson, chief digital officer at media agency Mindshare Worldwide.
Still, Apple faces setbacks in the form of ongoing Covid-19 concerns. The surge of the Omicron variant forced the company to close down a number of Apple stores as well as corporate offices.
Maestri offered forward-looking statements on a call with investors on Thursday, indicating that executives do not anticipate Covid-related impacts to worsen in the coming quarter.
Antitrust legislation is also spelling trouble for the company, as CEO Tim Cook continues to aggressively lobby against a number of new antitrust bills.
Under one such bill, introduced by Senator Amy Klobuchar, competing app stores would be allowed and consumers could choose which stores to use. Currently, Apple dominates the marketplace for how its users download new apps.
Analysts will look to earnings reports from other tech giants including Google parent company Alphabet and Amazon to see if that success will continue.
Reuters contributed to this report.
