Apple recently reported its steepest quarterly decline in iPhone sales since the beginning of the pandemic, with a 10% drop in year-over-year sales for the January-March period.
This marks the biggest drop in iPhone sales since the July-September period in 2020, when production delays caused by factory closures during the pandemic resulted in a delayed release of that year’s model.
The current iPhone downturn was the main reason for Apple’s 4% decrease in revenue compared to last year, totaling $90.8 billion.
This marked the fifth consecutive quarter that Apple’s revenue has dipped from the previous year. Despite this, Apple’s revenue and earnings per share came in slightly above analysts’ projections, and the company predicted a modest rise in revenue for the April-June quarter, which would end the recent streak of decline.
Apple remains one of the world’s most prosperous companies, and it reinforced this point by announcing a 4% increase in its quarterly dividend to 25 cents per share and committing to spending $110 billion on stock buybacks. However, some critics argue that Apple is spending more money catering to Wall Street than creating innovative products.
Investors are concerned not only about weakening iPhone sales but also about Apple potentially losing its edge as other tech giants, such as Microsoft and Google, take the lead in artificial intelligence technology.
Apple CEO Tim Cook assured analysts that the company believes in the transformative power and promise of AI and that they have advantages that will differentiate them in this new era. More details are expected to be announced at Apple’s annual conference in June.
Weak sales in China were again a factor in the latest quarter, with revenue in that region falling 8% from last year to $16.37 billion as rival smartphone makers gained ground.
In brighter news for the company, Apple’s services division saw a 14% increase in revenue, reaching $23.87 billion, thanks in part to lucrative deals like the one that locks in Google as the default search engine on iPhones.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.