Apple’s Revenue and Profit Decline Due to iPhone Sales Drop for the Third Consecutive Quarter

Apple’s Revenue in the past quarter fell by 9 percent compared to the same period last year, to $46.85 billion, and the profit of this tech giant has also decreased, a consequence of declining iPhone sales for the third consecutive quarter. According to the business report released on Tuesday, Apple achieved a net profit of $9 billion in the past quarter, which is 19 percent less than in the same period last year when earnings were $11.2 billion. This is primarily due to the decline in sales of iPhones, which account for about two-thirds of Apple’s total sales, marking the third consecutive quarter of falling revenue, profit, and iPhone sales.

In the past quarter, Apple sold 45.5 million iPhones, about 2.5 million fewer than in the same period last year. Notably, revenues from sales in Greater China fell the most, by nearly 30 percent, in the markets of China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan, which is Apple’s second-largest market after the U.S. The weakening demand for iPhones in China is a result of the slowing growth of the local economy, and thus consumer spending. Additionally, global sales of Mac computers fell by 17 percent year-on-year in the past quarter, while iPad sales stagnated. Sales in the ‘other products’ category, which includes the Apple Watch, fell by 22 percent.

– “Apple did not have a good quarter as iPhone and Mac sales fell, as well as sales in China and the U.S., and it seems that Watch sales have also declined,” says Patrick Moorhead, an analyst at Moor Insight & Strategy.

However, a bright spot in Apple’s report is the growth in revenue from the company’s services, which include applications like Apple Music, Apple Pay, and the App Store, rising by 24 percent year-on-year.

Despite the sharp decline in revenue and profit, the business results of the world’s largest company by market value are somewhat better than analysts surveyed by Reuters had estimated. Nevertheless, Apple’s stock price fell by more than 2 percent in after-hours trading on Wall Street on Tuesday.

In the entire past fiscal year, Apple’s profit fell to $45.7 billion, down from $53.4 billion a year earlier. The company’s revenues also significantly declined in the past fiscal year, marking their first drop since 2001.