Apple’s sales remained on a downward slope during the summer, resulting in a full year of declining revenue at the technology trendsetter.
The slight sales deterioration announced on Thursday for the July-September period marked the end of Apple’s fiscal year – a stretch that saw the company suffer a revenue decrease from the prior year in each quarter.
Although this past fiscal year’s revenue only dipped by 3% from the previous fiscal year, it was still a noteworthy anomaly in a business that has been so successful that Apple became the first US company to be valued at 3.0 trillion US dollars (£2.46 trillion) earlier this year.
It is the first time Apple’s fiscal year revenue has dropped since 2019 when sales fell by 2%.
Although Apple’s revenue in the latest quarter deceased 1% from last year to 89.5 billion dollars (£73.3 billion), its profit rose 11% to 22.96 billion dollars (£18.81 billion), or 1.46 dollars (£1.20) per share. Both figures eclipsed analysts’ projections, according to FactSet Research.
“We continue to face an uncertain macroeconomic environment,” Apple CEO Tim Cook said during a conference call with analysts.
Apple’s stock price fell more than 3% in extended trading after the results came out.
The shares have fallen by nearly 10% from their all-time highs reached in July amid worries about the sales slowdown and that China may prohibit purchases of iPhones by government workers amid rising tensions with the US, at the same time China’s Huawei rolls out new smartphones that pose tougher competition.
To help improve its revenue, Apple has been raising some of its prices. The starting price for its top-of-the-line iPhone 15 Pro Max unveiled in September is 1,200 dollars (£983), a 100 dollar bump (£82) from last year’s version of that device.
