What's going on?

Amazon and Apple bucked the Big Tech trend with better-than-expected results late on Thursday.

What does this mean?

Amazon�s cloud business brought in 33% more revenue than the same time last year, while its ecommerce segment � boosted by more efficient deliveries and the success of its Prime memberships � ticked along nicely too. And with the company�s expectation-beating revenue looking all the more impressive next to its rivals� bleak results, investors could breathe a sigh of relief: they initially sent its shares up 12%.

Not to be outdone, Apple posted higher-than-expected iPhone sales shortly afterward, while also noting that the number of active Apple devices is now at an all-time high. And since that�s given the company more opportunity to tempt users with the likes of Apple Music and Apple TV+, its highly profitable services segment continued to grow quickly last quarter. Investors were just glad to go out with a bang, sending the company�s shares up 4%.

Why should I care?

The bigger picture: Amazon sends in the heavies.
Amazon isn�t resting on its laurels, announcing this week that it�ll be upping the price of Amazon Prime by an average of 31% across Europe. That�s a hike that won�t cost Amazon a penny to roll out, meaning it�s essentially free money if customers don�t abandon the service. Amazon, for its part, is confident that won�t happen, not least because it did the same thing in the US in February without much downside. Of course, inflation has only risen since then, and lighter wallets might lead to a different result this time around�

Zooming out: Apple tries to woo China.
Meanwhile, Apple is focusing on improving sales in a lockdown-bruised China, where it rolled out discounts on iPhones and related products this week. The tech giant is notoriously reluctant to slash prices on its products, but it seems it�s willing to make compromises until the world�s biggest smartphone market gets back up and running.