Apple spends $1 billion on manufacturing jobs in the US

CNBC also pointed out that Apple’s dividend hike marks an increase from last year’s 9.6 percent boost, but does fall short of 2013’s raise of 15 percent. Some analysts questioned whether the near future will be similarly challenging.

One way or another, however, Apple just told the world it was throwing its incredible economic might behind developing the next generation of manufacturing in the U.S. That’s a very big deal. Customers are holding onto their tablets for longer instead of buying new ones.

Cook added Apple will give money to programs to train more app developers as well, with an announcement coming this summer.

As advanced manufacturing jobs are in high demand in the US, the sector was already high on Apple’s list of priorities, and Cook hopes the investment will spur even more job creation. In contrast, last quarter, Apple sold only 8.9 million iPads and generated $3.9 billion in revenue. After all, iPad unit sales fell 13% and revenue slid 12%. Intel said it would invest $7 billion in an Arizona chip-making plant.

Quarterly revenues also rose 4.6 percent to a staggering $52.9bn (£40.9bn) compared to $50.5bn (£39bn) in the same year-ago period. This marked the first full quarter that the new Pros impacted the bottom line and, in the realm of products, they did well.

Global sales accounted for 65 per cent of the quarter’s revenue.

iPhone 8 rumors started even before Apple released the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus handsets in 2016. Wall Street expected earnings of $2.02 per share on revenue of roughly $53 billion.

“If there’s a deal out there that would strike fear in the hearts of Silicon Valley and Hollywood, this could be it”, RBC Capital Markets analyst Amit Daryanani wrote in a recent research report assessing the logic of an Apple-Disney combination. This wearable business does include products other than the Apple Watch, such as Beats headphones and Airpods.

Apple posted revenue of United States dollars 52.9 billion for its fiscal 2017 second quarter ended April 1, 2017, up from USD 50.6 billion in the year-ago quarter.

Cook explained that by investing $1 billion in advanced American manufacturing, Apple can cause a “ripple in the pond” and promote job creation.