APPLE HAS REPORTED its first drop in quarterly revenue in 13 years — and the first-ever year-over-year decline in iPhone sales.
The company sold more than 51 million iPhones in the first three months of this year — 10 million fewer iPhones than it sold during the same quarter a year ago.
The tech slide is putting more pressure on Apple and CEO Tim Cook to come up with its next big product.
Cook, of course, has problems many corporate bosses would kill to have. Despite the decline in sales, Apple managed to rack up €9.3 billion in profit for the quarter.
“The future of Apple is very bright,” Cook told analysts on a conference call.
But Apple is battling perceptions that its latest iPhones aren’t that different from previous models, at a time when overall smartphone sales are slowing around the world. Apple also sells iPads, Mac computers and other gadgets, but nearly two-thirds of its €44.8 billion in quarterly revenue came from iPhones.
New features
Overall, the company’s revenue in the January-March quarter was down 13% from a year earlier. And the company surprised analysts by forecasting another revenue drop of 13% or more in the current quarter.
Apple hasn’t reported a year-over-year sales decline since 2003, when the iPod was still relatively new and the iPhone didn’t exist. Since then, the iPhone and other products have propelled the company’s stock value from €4.5 billion to €513 billion, making it the most valuable public company in the world.
Analysts are expecting Apple’s performance to improve in the fall, when it’s expected to release the next generation of iPhones with as-yet undisclosed new features.
For now, Apple is finding it difficult to match the blockbuster sales it racked up last year, when shoppers flocked to buy the first iPhones with larger screens — similar to the 5- and 6-inch models that Samsung and other competitors were already selling.
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