It earned $18.4 billion in profit for the October-December quarter, up 1.8 percent from a year earlier. Apple Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook has expanded in China and released new services and products such as Apple Watch to help broaden the business, but the company’s dependence on the iPhone leaves it vulnerable to any deceleration in demand. He said Apple has a large base of customers – with 1 billion Apple devices now in active use – who can be relied on to purchase new Apple gadgets, mobile apps and services like Apple Music.
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Apple has reported the slowest sales ever of its market-leading iPhone, after years of rocketing growth, but the tech giant still posted record quarterly profit. As much as investors are concerned about what Cook will say about the past quarter, many are even more focused on the current quarter, in which they’re expecting revenue to drop for the first time in 13 years. But Tuesday’s forecast implies Apple doesn’t expect to match the 61 million iPhones sold in last year’s January-March quarter.
Apple is expected to sell 54.6 million iPhones in the March 2016 quarter, according to FactSet.
The company also said the strength of the US dollar against foreign currencies is trimming revenue. The 73.9% EPS beat ratio for Q4 at this stage is tracking above what we had seen from these same companies in other recent periods; even the revenue beat ratio at this stage is better than what we saw in Q3 and about in-line with the 4-quarter average.
Apple Inc.is forecasting a sales decline for the first time in more than a decade, adding to evidence that the market for smartphones is becoming saturated and threatening the company’s unprecedented run of success.
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.
Macs have been a clear strength for Apple, and analysts believe the company sold a record 6 million last quarter. Analysts say the slight increase in sales for the December quarter came in part because Apple began selling the newest models several days earlier in key markets such as China.
The iPhone 5SE is expected to be available in the same gold, silver, gray and rose gold colors that are available for the iPhone 6S, and Apple is expected to unveil the new four-inch phone in March. That could fuel another surge in sales.
Skeptics, however, note that Apple hasn’t come up with a blockbuster product to replace the iPhone. That’s led some critics to suggest Apple has lost its innovative touch, while others say it’s evolving to depend on a broader base of related tech products and services.
Here’s how Wall Street analysts think Apple’s past quarter stacked up against the previous year.
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The results were largely in line with expectations that sales of iPhones – the driver of two-thirds of Apple revenue – had peaked and that the company would need to find new sources of growth.
