Apple saw its share prices drop more than seven per cent in morning trading after it issued a near-unprecedented revenue warning.
Late on Wednesday the technology giant issued a rare warning to investors that it expected revenues for the final three months of the year to come in at around $84 billion (£66.8 billion), down 10 per cent from previous estimates of between $89 billion (£70.7 billion) and $93 billion (£73.9 billion).
This would mark a five per cent drop on the same period last year, which its chief executive Tim Cook attributed almost entirely to a dramatic slowdown in demand in the Chinese market.
“While we anticipated some challenges in key emerging markets, we did not foresee the magnitude of the economic deceleration, particularly in Greater China,” Cook said.
This comes just days after US financial services giant Citi Group lowered its sales expectations for Apple’s premium iPhone XS Max range for the first quarter, expecting a drop of nearly 50 per cent.
It also said it expects weakening demand for the entire iPhone range to affect sales figures over the same period, expecting the company to sell just 45 million iPhones, the lowest number since 2012.
Cook confirmed that demand for the new range of iPhones, launched in September, had been lacklustre in developed countries.
Despite falling interest in its flagship iPhone range, Cook assured investors that due to a 19 per cent rise in revenues from other businesses, quarterly earnings per share would still beat records.
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