iPhone sales did lift from an expected 39.9 million, and Apple can thank the new SE model for that.
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While that is a drop of 14.6 percent from the same period past year – the second quarter in a row that Apple’s revenue has dropped – it beat analyst projections of $42.09 billion.
Sales of the iPhone fell to 40.4 million units, down from 48 million a year earlier.
It was the second straight quarter of slumping iPhone sales for the company, which until then had seen uninterrupted growth. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters estimated that Apple would post earnings of $1.38 a share on revenue of $42.1 billion.
First and foremost, the next iPhone won’t bring such big changes in terms of looks and features as compared to the existing iPhone 6s lineup, although certain upgrades, such as the dual cameras on the Plus, are indeed expected.
Data source: Apple quarterly reports.
Under Cook, Apple has been cautious about entering new product categories. While expectations were high that the 2017 model will be called iPhone 8, the latest turn of events could be pointing towards an iPhone 7 for next year.
The results underscored the challenges for Apple, which has built a huge business around the iPhone but is unlikely to see continued growth, due to a saturated smartphone market and increased competition.
Those map queries rose 15.4% annually in the last quarter of 2015, which almost matched the 14% increase in sales for Apple in its corresponding quarter.
“We had a tremendous performance from services”, said Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook, on a conference call discussing the results.
The iPhone is one of the bestselling tech products of all time. That was down 23.4 percent compared to the same period a year earlier when iPhone sales reached $31.37 billion.
Mr. Cook said that stripping out currency impacts, sales in mainland China were down 2% in the quarter. Maestri projected the gadget’s average selling price to rise in the September quarter.
Apple generated 25% of its sales in China during the second quarter, but its 26% decline also made it its worst-performing region worldwide. I can’t understand why Apple didn’t do the same for the Plus models. Apple also collects fees from people who buy extra iCloud storage and from banks when customers use their credit cards with Apple Pay.
Apple’s revenue beat modest Wall Street expectations in the June quarter, but its business in China took a big hit.
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Gillis also noted that Apple’s USA cash has been depleted to $24 billion and its debt has increased to $72 billion. Since the beginning of the year, the $538 billion market cap name has lost more than 5 percent of its value.
