Sales of iPhones Have Slowed, Apple Says

Apple does not break out sales of the Apple Watch and the Apple TV, choosing instead to lump them into an “Other” category that also includes iPods and Beats headphones, so exact sales numbers for the two devices are not known. Overall sales in greater China rose 14 percent to $18.4 billion last quarter, and Cook said the company would continue to invest there despite an economic slowdown. Apple does not report Watch sales, but it does not appear to have the makings of being a hit on the same level as the iPhone a year after launch.

“We’re seeing extreme conditions, unlike anything we’ve experienced before, just about everywhere we look”, CEO Tim Cook told analysts on a conference call.

Apple reported earnings of $3.28 per share, beating the average analyst estimate of $3.23 per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. Revenue increased 1.7 percent to $75.87 billion, both records for the company.

Over the longer term, he said, revenue from apps and services, along with new products like the Apple Watch, “will be critical as the company attempts to re-ignite growth”. To put into perspective, the mid-point of Apple’s guidance is still over 10% below year-ago sales.

“Owing to supply chain constraints on dual-camera modules, the KGI analyst expects the larger handset to come in single-camera and dual-camera versions”, the site reported. Over the past several years, Apple could be relied upon to post massive iPhone sales that passed the preceding year’s handily.

The US tech giant sold 74.8 million iPhones in its fiscal first quarter, compared with 74.5 million a year ago. One analyst estimated, based on the revenue estimates Apple provided, that it will sell 50 million to 52 million units in the March quarter.

China accounts for nearly a quarter of Apple’s sales, more than all of Europe combined.

Naturally, many are taking news of next quarter’s iPhone sales decline as a sign that iPhone growth has finally hit a wall.

Mac unit sales: MacBooks are losing their shine as unit sales was down 3% year-over-year to 5.31M units.

Analysts say last September’s release of two more big-screen phones, the iPhone 6S and 6S Plus, made less of a splash because they were viewed as relatively similar to the previous models, despite some new features.

Apple executives painted the downturn as a momentary hiccup.

The profitability of Apple’s business improved, with gross margin – or how much the company makes per product – increasing to 40.1%.

“Apple has become a victim of its own success as the blockbuster iPhone 6 product cycle was hard to replicate with many customers buying an older, cheaper iPhone 6 or waiting for the iPhone 7″, Ive said. The company was not projecting figures beyond those months, he said. The stock was sold at an average price of $122.08, for a total value of $3,662,400.00. “We are starting to see something that we have not seen before”.