Infographic: Apple Services Is A Beast Lurking In The Shadows Of Its Hardware Business

When people think of Apple, they think of hardware first. iPhone, iPad, MacBook and iMac – those are the products that made Apple what it is today: the most valuable company in the world. Once a year though, at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference, it’s all about the software side of Apple’s $1.5 trillion empire.

While the company has always emphasized the advantages of its hardware and software working seamlessly together, the latter has long been considered a means to an end, rather than a worthwhile business opportunity in itself. Over the past few years, however, that perception changed to some extent, as software and services have come to play a larger role in Apple’s business.

With Apple TV+, Apple Music, Apple Pay, iTunes, the App Store as well as iCloud and Apple Care, Apple’s services business has become a beast of its own in recent years. As our chart illustrates, services revenue increased more than threefold since 2013, growing from $13.5 billion in the 12 months ended March 2013 to more than $50 billion in the 12 months ended March 2020.

While $50 billion in annual revenue is beyond most companies’ wildest dreams, it can still be considered bycatch for a company of Apple’s size. With product sales amounting to $218 billion in the twelve months leading up to March 2020, hardware still accounts for more than 80% of the company’s total revenue.