Why Apple Rose 12.3% in December

What happened

Shares of Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) climbed 12.3% in December, according to data provided by S&P Global Market Intelligence.

The iPhone manufacturer is seeing its shares trade at close to an all-time high; they’re up nearly 77% this year.

Image source: Getty images.

So what

Apple has benefited from the coronavirus pandemic as sales have remained robust due to more people purchasing the company’s devices to stay in touch with loved ones. For its full fiscal year ended Sep. 30, total revenue rose 5.3% year over year to $274.5 billion while net income inched up 3.9% year over year to $57.4 billion. These numbers show that the technology giant still has room to post continued growth even with a large earnings base.

What was interesting, though, was the jump in sales of wearables and services, two divisions that saw double-digit year-over-year revenue increases. Wearables, which includes the Apple Watch and Airpods, saw revenue rise 25% year over year to $30.6 billion and took up 11.2% of Apple’s total revenue, up from just 9.4% a year ago. Services, a division that promises steady recurring revenue for Apple, now makes up nearly one-fifth of total revenue, up from 17.8% last year.

Now what

Apple’s innovative product pipeline has not skipped a beat, with news that the iPhone maker intends to come up with a foldable phone that is similar to what its close competitor Samsung Electronics is offering. The product will supposedly fold down like a clamshell, but it’s still early in its development as the new phone’s design has yet to be confirmed. The product is slated for either a 2022 or 2023 release.

There’s also been some buzz around what’s been termed the “Apple Car,” a self-driving car that Apple has been working on for years and which promises to be a breakthrough in terms of battery technology and automated vehicle technology. Although this project has been shrouded in secrecy, it’s rumored that the company is planning to launch this new car as early as 2024. If this is true, it’s probably the most interesting product that Apple has come up thus far with aside from its hand-held gadgets and wearables.