Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg criticized Apple’s rival for “self-serving and anti-competitive” privacy changes, on the day the social network announced that its profits increased by 53% last year compared to 2019.
Facebook benefited more people at home during the pandemic in 2020 and saw an increase in the use of their platforms.
But CEO Zuckerberg is sounding the alarm about future changes at Apple that could threaten his company’s future dominance.
Facebook’s results for the last quarter of 2020, reported on Wednesday, came when Apple announced that it also had an unpleasant year, with revenues of over $ 100 billion in the three months to the end of December.
Only a handful of companies, including Walmart, previously reported $ 100 billion per quarter, while Amazon is expected to break that barrier when it reports next month.
But Apple’s profit margins are estimated at about 23% – about five times that of any retailer.
Apple plans to make a software change that gives iPhone and iPad users a clearer opportunity to give up tracking ads for online advertising, a big chunk of Facebook pie.
Zuckerberg also believes that Apple is positioning iMessage to overtake Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp.
“IMessage is a key part of their ecosystem,” Zuckerberg said in the winning call, according to CNBC. “Comes pre-installed on every iPhone and prefers it with APIs and private permissions, which is why iMessage is the most used messaging service in the US”
Apple’s new policy will prohibit the collection and sharing of certain data unless people choose to track it on iOS 14 devices through a prompt when they download the app.
Zuckerberg had harsher words about Apple’s business practices.
Mark Zuckerberg’s company made $ 28 billion in profits in the last quarter of 2020
“Apple has every incentive to use its dominant position in the platform to interfere with the way our applications and other applications work, which we do regularly to prefer theirs.
“Apple may say it is doing this to help people, but the moves are clearly in the interests of their competitors. We and others will fight against this for the foreseeable future. ‘
Facebook had a lot to celebrate on Wednesday, recording a profit of 11.2 billion dollars on revenues of 28 billion dollars in the last three months of 2020.
The California-based company’s revenue rose 33 percent to about $ 28 billion this quarter.
At Apple, Zuckerberg had a few harsh words about future software changes. Pictured: Apple CEO Tim Cook
Their applications – Instagram, Messenger and WhatsApp – have seen a 14% year-on-year increase in monthly active users, with 3.3 billion people, almost half of the world’s population using them.
After an initial drop in advertising in March, Facebook’s business grew as more people bought products online during the pandemic, executives said.
“We had a strong end to the year as people and companies continued to use our services in these difficult times,” Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a statement.
But the 36-year-old warned that there could be challenges in the future with the “evolving regulatory landscape,” including changes to Apple’s software.
“We also expect to face more significant headwinds in 2021,” CFO David Wehner said in a statement.
“This includes the impact of platform changes, especially iOS 14, as well as the evolving regulatory landscape.
“Although the timing of the iOS 14 changes remains uncertain, we would expect to see an impact starting late in the first quarter.”
Facebook has warned that pressure from governments could change their financial future
The 36-year-old said he remained optimistic about the company next year
Dozens of states and the federal government sued Facebook last month, claiming that the social media giant abused its dominant position in the digital market and engaged in anti-competitive behavior.
This month, the social media giant removed Donald Trump and many of his allies from their site after the January 6 attack on the Capitol, accusing him of inciting violence.
Zuckerberg said he was optimistic about next year.
“I am excited about our product roadmap for 2021 as we build new and meaningful ways to create economic opportunities, build community and help people have fun,” he said.
Analysts said the results showed the resilience of Palo Alto.
“Despite the negative advertising and antitrust cases, there seems to be nothing that can stop what is probably the most important advertising platform in the world,” said Jesse Cohen, senior analyst at Investing.com.
Meanwhile, Apple ended 2020 with the most profitable quarter in history, with sales of $ 111.4 billion offered by people modernizing their technology to work from home.
Apple announced Wednesday that it has exceeded quarterly revenues of $ 100 billion
On Wednesday, they announced the results for the first fiscal quarter of 2021, ending on December 26, 2020.
Profit rose 29 percent to $ 28.76 billion in the three months ended December 31.
Shares of Apple rose 81 percent in 2020 and rose about seven percent as of Wednesday.
IPhone revenue rose 17% year-over-year to $ 65.60 billion.
Apple launched four new iPhone 12 models in October – the first to include 5G.
Investors believe that it has created a “supercycle” of users asking to upgrade. The new iPhone helped sales grow by 57% in China, which has a more developed 5G network.
“They’re full of features that customers love and they came at the right time, where the 5G networks were,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO.
The launch of the iPhone 12 by Tim Cook, pictured, helped increase Apple’s profits
In the US, the average retail price of the iPhone rose to $ 873 from $ 809 a year ago, driven by buyers who gravitated to more expensive versions, according to a survey by Consumer Intelligence Research Partners LLC.
An iPhone 12 mini has a starting price of 699 USD, while the largest and most expensive iPhone 12 Max starts at 1,099 USD.
The category of other Apple products, which includes Apple Watch and headphones such as AirPods and Beats, has increased by 29% compared to last year to $ 12.97 billion, even though people spend less time commuting and traveling.
Apple launched a set of high-end headphones, AirPods Pro Max, in December, with a steep price of 549 USD.
Macs and iPads, Apple devices most likely to be used for distance and school work, also rose this quarter.
Cook said sales would have been higher if the pandemic had not forced stores to close.
“We couldn’t be more optimistic,” he told The Wall Street Journal.