Microsoft’s fiscal 2023 is well underway and the company is announcing a mixed-bag Q1 earnings call. In recent years, the company has been on a rolling road of success, quarter after quarter, year after year. While there is a lot to still be pleased about, the Fiscal 2023 Q1 earnings also provide areas where Microsoft will need to improve.
Revenue increased once again for Microsoft, jumping 11 percent compared to the first quarter of fiscal 2022. However, new income took a hit, decreasing by 14 percent year-on-year. Of course, Microsoft still made a profit, but it was lower than Q1 2022.
In terms of raw numbers, Microsoft took $50.1 billion in revenue and $17.6 billion in net income.
As I recently reported, the PC market is in decline after increasing during the pandemic. Microsoft has confirmed it is seeing the effects of this decline. The company says it saw a 15 percent fall in Windows OEM revenue during Q1. This is the money that PC manufacturers such as Lenovo, Dell, and HP pay to Microsoft to include Windows on their devices.
Microsoft says this decline stems from a “continued deterioration in the PC market.” Even so, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella is bullish and says despite the PC market, Window remains in a strong position:
“Despite the drop in PC shipments during the quarter, Windows continues to see usage growth,” Nadella says, pointing to a 20 percent in the number of monthly active users on Windows devices compared to before the pandemic.
Surface
Personally, I think it has been a poor 12 months for Surface. Underwhelming product launches like the Surface Laptop 5, Surface Pro 9, and Surface Studio 2+ and completely ignoring the Surface Duo points to a confused hardware operation. Even so, during Q1 Surface revenue was by 2 percent year-on-year.
Although, Microsoft is now including PC accessories and HoloLens sales in a new “devices revenue” bracket. In other words, that increase may not be entirely down to the success of Surface. In fact, despite the new products mentioned above, Microsoft forecasts a decline in devices revenue this current quarter.
The company says it predicts a decline of 30 percent in fiscal 2023 Q2.
Tip of the day: When Windows 10 or Windows 11 has issues, it’s not rare to run into startup problems. Corrupted Windows files, incorrect system configuration, driver failure, or registry tweaks can all cause this issue.
Using Windows startup repair can fix boot issues caused by the most prevalent issues. Though it may seem that all is lost when you run into startup problems, it’s important to try a Windows boot repair so you can at least narrow down the source of the issue. If it doesn’t work, you may have to reinstall the OS or test your hardware.
