Microsoft sold less hardware again, Xbox and cloud services did well

Microsoft announced in the first quarterly figures of the 2024 financial year that significantly less revenue was achieved from hardware sales. Various cloud services, the Xbox department and Office products resulted in higher turnover in the same period.

In the past quarter, Microsoft sold 22 percent less hardware than in the same quarter last year, according to the quarterly figures. This includes the HoloLens and the various Surface products. Despite the lower hardware revenue, Microsoft managed to achieve a total revenue of $56.6 billion in Q1 of the 2024 financial year, of which $22.3 billion is counted as profit. These are increases of 13 and 25 percent respectively compared to the same quarter last year.

Microsoft owes these figures to the continued increase in revenue from cloud services. In the ‘Azure and other cloud services’ category, the company achieved almost 30 percent more than last year. Microsoft Cloud, Office Commercial and Dynamics products and associated cloud services and other server and cloud services also achieved significantly higher turnover than last year, with an increase of between 15 and 29 percent. Turnover from Windows, OEM products and Office packages for consumers increased by several percent.

The Xbox division also achieved lower income from the sale of hardware, including consoles and accessories. Xbox’s hardware revenue fell by about 7 percent in the period in question, which the company said was offset by the popularity of Xbox Game Pass and its own games. In the content and services area, Xbox revenue increased by 13 percent. In total, Microsoft managed to generate about 9 percent more revenue from its Gaming department.