Apple’s revenue has dropped for the first time in 13 years, with the company’s second quarter results down $8bn (£5.46bn) on last year.
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Apple CEO Tim Cook noted that the strong dollar is partly to blame, and said that in “constant currency” Apple sales for the quarter were only down 9%.
On Tuesday, Apple reported that iPhone sales across the globe were down for the very first time, as per the company’s guidance for the quarter.
“If they continue through normal sales of iPhone there is not much they can do in terms of hardware and bringing something new”.
The region of Greater China expanded by 14% to over $18.4 billion during the quarter that ended in December, which meant the earnings report by Apple on Tuesday was a drop sequentially of 32%.
Low demand in China, which has mostly driven Apple’s growth in recent years, was also blamed.
Apple Inc. suffered its first revenue decline in 13 years, but not all of the company’s segments are following the same track.
What happened? One factor is last year’s spring quarter saw unusually high sales for Apple.
In a conference call with analysts on January 27 to discuss its Q1 financial results, Apple CEO warned of a slump after the manufacturer reported its slowest growth rate in the device’s nine-year history. Analysts said it was not surprising to see the drop given the saturation of the global smartphone market.
Interestingly, elsewhere in the company, Apple did announce some growth, this time in its services category, which includes iCloud, Apple Music, and iTunes Sales, that grew from $5 billion to $6 billion.
According to Apple’s Chief Executive, Tim Cook, the iPhone 6s did not move the crowd to switch their iPhone from iPhone 6 whereas, in the previous year, majority of the people switched to iPhone 6 from iPhone 5s.
But there may be more dark clouds on the horizon than Cook is letting on.
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Apple has also sought government permission to open retail stores in India, the world’s third-largest smartphone market after China and the United States, to boost sales.
