Apple Inc Sees First Decline in Sales in More than a Decade: World’s largest company Apple Inc predicted that its revenue will decline going forward as the Chinese market is showing signs of weakness. Investors have feared that consumers have not taken to the latest iPhone models as they have to previous devices, leading to shares falling by a fifth in the last six months.
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Overall the company posted record quarterly revenue of US$75.9 billion and profit of US$18.4 billion, compared to revenue of US$74.6 billion and net income of US$18 billion in the same quarter a year earlier.
The smartphone accounts for 68% of Apple’s revenue and iPhone revenue has never declined year-over-year.
For the period, a total of 75.80 million iPhone units were sold, slightly higher than last year’s 74.50 million units.
“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 chief executive Tim Cook said in a statement.
Cook called Apple’s services business “an unbelievable asset” for the company, and noted that Apple now has 1 billion “active” devices in use that can drive services sales.
Now, to be clear, this isn’t the billionth product the Cupertino company has sold, according to a report on The Verge – that happened back in 2014. Much attention will be paid to the anticipated release of the iPhone 7 later this year to see whether it will encourage existing iPhone users to upgrade their devices and Android device owners to jump ship. However, Apple’s revenue in the U.S. and in Japan tumbled.
Shares of Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) have plummeted almost 5 percent in the mid-day trading session on Wednesday.
This compared to a profit of $18 billion with revenue of $74.6 billion made for the same period one year ago.
All eyes will now be on a budget iPhone 5se, a special edition with a four inch screen and revamped 5c features which is expected to be unveiled in March along with a new range of Apple watches.
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Today’s announcement has been referred to by some as “peak iPhone”, but Cook remains optimistic about annual iPhone sales in 2016.
