By Stephen Nellis

(Reuters) – Supply chain problems cost Apple Inc (NASDAQ) $6 billion in sales last quarter. This was lower than Wall Street’s expectations. Chief Executive Tim Cook stated that this will have a worse impact on the holiday quarter.

Cook said to Reuters that the September 25th quarter was plagued by “larger-than-expected supply constraints,” as well as disruptions caused in part by pandemic-related manufacturing problems in Southeast Asia. Cook explained that Apple has seen “significant improvement in the facilities of Southeast Asia” since October but the chip shortage continues and affects “most of our products.”

Cook explained that they are trying to do everything possible to increase the number of chips as well as to do everything operationally in order to move at the fastest pace.

Cook stated that Cook expects year-overyear growth for the quarter ended December. Analysts predict growth of between 7.4%-119.7 Billion.

“We project very solid demand growth every year. Cook stated that while we project very solid demand growth year over year, we also predict we will be in short supply of demand. This is expected to exceed $6 billion.

Cupertino’s California-based Apple had mixed financial results for its fiscal fourth quarter. It was considered a quiet period before the holiday season with high sales.

According to Refinitiv’s IBES data, Apple reported that its fourth-quarter revenues were $83.4 billion, and that profits reached $1.24 per diluted share. This compares with analyst estimates at $84.8 billion, and $1.24 per diluted share.

These results came after a year that saw sales exceeding expectations, led by the iPhone 12 models, strong Mac computer sales and iPad sales for learning and working from home in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In July, Apple informed investors that its iPhone and iPad lines would be affected by chip limitations for the first-ever time during the fourth quarter.

Apple’s results were posted shortly after Amazon.com (NASDAQ 🙂 had forecast holiday quarter sales that fell short of Wall Street estimates. They cited in part labor shortages and problems with global supply chains.

MISSES

Apple fell short of expectations in two critical categories. According to Refinitiv data, Apple reported fourth quarter iPhone sales of $38.9 Billion, which was below estimates of $41.5 Billion.

Cook stated that older technology chips are still a key supply problem. Apple’s supply constraints remain a key concern, he said.

While most of our designs are cutting-edge in chip manufacturing, many of our products also have legacy components. That (shortage), which continues into fiscal Q1, will continue, and we’ll be watching what the future holds. Cook said that it was very difficult to predict.”

According to Refinitiv data, the company’s Accessories segment was worth $8.8 Billion, or half a trillion dollars less than analysts expected at $9.3 Billion.

The other segments performed better. According to Refinitiv data, sales for iPads, Macs, and Macs reached $8.3 trillion and $9.2 milliards, respectively, as compared to analyst estimates of $7.2 million and $9.2billion, respectively.

Services segment, which includes its App Store, saw revenue of $18.3 Billion, an increase of 26% over analyst estimates of $17.6 Billion. Cook stated to Reuters Apple has 745million paid subscribers now, up from 700 million disclosed a quarter earlier.

One bright spot of the company’s performance was its China sales, which rose 83% to $14.6 million.

Company claimed that it paid $24 billion in dividends to shareholders over the past quarter.