Apple’s profits dropped 27% in the second quarter of the year – partly driven by sales in China falling by a third. The world’s most valuable publicly-traded company reported profits of $7.8bn (£5.9bn) on revenues of $42.4bn (£32.2bn) between April and June. The focus was on iPhone sales after Apple endured a first quarterly decline in the previous three months – Apple confirming a fall of 15% to 40.4 million units in its latest trading period. The iPhone is crucial for Apple as it still accounts for two-thirds of its revenue. Mac sales fell 13% but the results also showed increased sales for services including the App Store and iCloud – raising $6bn, a rise of 19%.
It admitted that the economic slowdown, particularly in China, meant a growing number of consumers were failing to upgrade their iPhone models. Some analysts also pointed to rivals raising their game. Patrick Moorhead, of Moor Insights & Strategy, said: “Samsung and Huawei are much more competitive now than a year ago.” Apple has encountered a number of regulatory problems in China but said it was working with authorities to restore its stores for books and movies after they were taken down by the authorities – insisting they were yielding less than $1m at the time. The company pointed to growth in India as one of the rare bright spots, with iPhone sales rising 51%
Chief executive Tim Cook said: “India is now one of our fastest growing markets … We’re looking forward to opening more retail stores in India down the road, and we see huge potential.” The company’s share price – down more than 8% during 2016 to date – rose 7% in after-hours trading as the company’s earnings forecasts for the remainder of the year beat analysts’ expectations. Apple is likely to have based those projections on the release of a new iPhone 7 range – widely expected to be released in September.
Source: Sky News
