4 Takeaways From Apple’s Q4 Earnings Beat, From Apple Music to Tim Cook’s Love of AR

It was the same old song and dance when Apple reported its fourth quarter earnings on Thursday afternoon, with the company easily blowing past analyst expectations as it hauled in $52.6 billion in revenue — its fourth straight quarter beating revenue estimates.

The company took a victory lap on its earnings conference call, patting itself on the back for better-than-expected iPhone sales and a record $8.5 billion in services revenue.

But there was plenty more for Apple fanboys to drool over on the call: here are a few points that stood out.

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Tim Cook Still Loves Augmented Reality 

As you might remember, Cook had said AR is so cool it makes him want to “yell out and scream” earlier this year. Apparently that’s still the case. Less than five minutes into the call, CEO Tim Cook was touting the future of augmented reality.

The exec said the App Store now sports more than 1,000 AR-enabled apps, with its latest iOS update bringing the technology to millions of devices. “AR is going to change the way we will use technology forever,” said Cook, setting his sights high.

Cook pointed to several use cases, from humanitarian causes to pulling up stats while at a game.

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Apple Watch Sales Are Up — But How Many Were Sold? 

The Apple Watch continues to gain steam, with Cook saying the device had “over 50 percent” growth for the third consecutive quarter. Still, the company has been mum on reporting exact sales figures; analysts have estimated 2-3 million Watches were sold last quarter.

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Apple has doubled down on its push to own the fit-tech market, hyping the Watch as a go-to workout partner. This case is only backed up by the Watch now being cell-enabled. Altogether, its wearable business is humming along, with its revenue increasing 75 percent year-over-year.

Music — Still Popular!

Speaking of 75 percent, Apple Music subscriptions are up 75 percent year-over-year. (The company passed 30 million subs in September.) We can finally say, once and for all, Napster is dead.

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Macs Aren’t Dead

Apple is making money in so many different ways, it’s getting hard to keep track. But even its old fallbacks are reaching new heights, with Apple VP Luca Maestri saying Macs had its “biggest year ever.” Sales swelled to 5.4 million computers in the fourth quarter — a 25 percent year-over-year increase.