Still it was down on the 51.2 million sold in the previous quarter and the 47.5 million sold in the same quarter a year ago.
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The iPhone makes up about two thirds of Apple’s total sales and the company has developed different versions, such as the cheaper SE model, to cater for people on a limited budget. And while it’s becoming obvious that as iPhone sales flatline, Apple will not be able to sustain itself with its hardware business alone, executive leadership appears prepared for this eventuality.
But Tim Cook, Apple’s chief executive, said he was pleased to report a third quarter results that reflect “stronger customer demand” and “business performance” than anticipated at the start of the quarter.
Apple also said it expected iPhone average selling prices to improve into September.
Apple doesn’t break out sales of Apple Watch because they are so low-the firm did claim that the device is still the best-selling smart watch, however-but IDC says Apple Watch sales fell an astonishing 55 percent in the quarter, to just 1.6 million units. But it’s not speeding up, it’s slowing down, and this year’s iPhone update could be a second “tock” release, with some rumors claiming that Apple may use the brand iPhone 6SE to describe these evolutionary updates. And we have been and continue to invest a lot in this.
At this point in the development of he consumer tech market, especially in terms of mobile devices, the greatest opportunities to wow buyers with innovation are more likely to lie on the software side rather than on the hardware end, IDC analyst Ramon Llamas told us today.
“The number one thing is to make sure our products work well with other developers’ kind of products like Pokémon, that’s why you see so many iPhones in the wild chasing Pokémon”, he added.
Another small bright spot was the revenue Apple gained from its services businesses, including sales from the iOS App Store, Apple Music and the iTunes Store.
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Chief Financial Officer Luca Maestri said online services are increasingly important to Apple, since their financial contribution is increasing.
