Apple on Thursday reported a 10% drop in iPhone sales for the second fiscal quarter, dropping from $51.3 billion to $45.9 billion, year-over-year. The slowdown was fueled, in part, by an 8% drop in China.
Apple’s slow adoption of AI versus competitors like Google and Microsoft likely played a role in consumers’ decision to hold off on purchasing a new iPhone. Apple has promised some big announcements on that front (likely at WWDC in June), but the iPhone 16 itself likely won’t arrive until fall.
In an interview with CNBC, CEO Tim Cook suggested that a Covid-related iPhone 14 delay was the cause of the dip. “If you remove that $5 billion from last year’s results, we would have grown this quarter on a year-over-year basis,” he noted. “And so that’s how we look at it internally from how the company is performing.”
In spite of those dire hardware figures, however, the company still managed to beat Wall Street expectations, fueled by both an increase on services revenue and a massive $110 billion stock buyback — a jump over last year’s $90 billion purchase.
Services, which includes offerings like iCloud, Apple TV+ and Apple Music, jumped 14% for the year. Apple has long anticipated a slowdown in hardware sales, and its increasing focus on subscription services have helped to make up for some of that loss.
The company is expected to release two new iPads at a standalone event next week, along with the M4 chip — the latest addition to the Apple Silicon line. The company’s chip progress, however, will soon be challenged by Microsoft’s efforts in the space, which are expected to be revealed at its Build conference in late-May. More hardware is likely also on the docket for its annual World Wide Developers Conference in June.
Apple does not break out Vision Pro numbers. Instead, those numbers are included in Wearables, Home and Accessories — a list that also includes devices like Apple Watch, AirPods and HomePods. Most reports, however, point to worse than anticipated sales. The company still attempted to give the headset’s arrival a positive spin.
“During the quarter, we were thrilled to launch Apple Vision Pro and to show the world the potential that spatial computing unlocks,” noted in a release. “We’re also looking forward to an exciting product announcement next week and an incredible Worldwide Developers Conference next month.”