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Apple warns iPhone sales to drop for the first time ever

Apple posted a record $18 billion in profit a year ago, and now it’s beat that record with $18.4 billion in profit on $75.9 billion in revenue during the last 90 days of 2015.

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“Our team delivered Apple’s biggest quarter ever, thanks to the world’s most innovative products and all-time record sales of iPhone, Apple Watch, and Apple TV”, Apple CEO Tim Cook said in a news release.

Apple’s guidance for the March quarter implies iPhone sales of 45 to 50 million units, which would mark the first-ever decline in sales of the gadget, noted Daniel Ives, analyst at FBR Capital Markets & Co. Revenue in the “other products” category, which includes the Apple Watch and Apple TV, did see a 62% increase in revenue year-on-year, now bringing $4.3 billion to the table. This would represent a decline from the $58 billion in sales that Apple posted in the second quarter of fiscal 2015, the first forecasted year-over-year decline in sales for the company since the second quarter of fiscal 2003. But, as I said ahead of the report, guidance for a year-over-year decline in Apple’s second-quarter revenue wouldn’t concern me. Both revenue and earnings were company records. Investors are anxious about Apple’s great dependence on the iPhone.

According to analysts, Apple only has itself to blame. So, despite the new iPad Pro, iPads sales slumped 25 per cent year-over-year.

Apple has reported its first-quarter earnings for the 2016 financial year, reporting record-breaking earnings.

Analysts estimated that iPhone sales would be hurt by the lack of innovations in the 6s and 6s Plus, but it appears that market performance remained strong, possibly driven by previous models too.

“Foreign currency fluctuations have a very material impact on our results”, Cook said, noting that two-thirds of Apple’s revenue now comes from outside the U.S. While the money numbers were huge as we’ve come to expect, iPhone sales growth slowed, while other devices dropped year-over-year.

Apple’s services business saw revenue rise 26% from the prior-year period, to $6.06 billion in revenue.

Cook also noted that the company has 10 million paying subscribers for its Apple Music streaming service just four months after it began asking people to pay (there was a free trial period for early subscribers).

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Starting at 2 p.m. PDT, Apple will hold a financial results conference call for analysts.

Analysts have long feared that Apple's sales in China would falter