Apple has posted its third consecutive quarter of declining revenues, the tech giant’s most prolonged sales slump since 2016.
The company’s sales for the quarter slipped 1.4% to $81.8bn, although it made a profit of $19.9bn, beating analyst forecasts.
However, iPhone sales slightly missed analyst estimates, coming in at $39.67bn versus $39.79bn expected. About half of Apple’s overall revenue comes from its iPhone segment.
But the slump was made up for by better-than-expected sales in the services segment that contains Apple TV+.
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Finance boss Luca Maestri said: “We expect our September quarter year-over-year revenue performance to be similar to the June quarter, assuming that the macroeconomic outlook doesn’t worsen from what we are projecting today for the current quarter.”
Maestri told analysts that the company expects revenue for iPhone and services to accelerate, while revenues for Mac and iPad are expected to decline by double digits “due to difficult compares”.
Apple chief executive Tim Cook told Reuters that its increased R&D spending was in part driven by work on generative artificial intelligence.
“We’ve been doing research across a wide range of AI technologies, including generative AI, for years. We’re going to continue investing and innovating and responsibly advancing our products with these technologies to help enrich people’s lives,” Cook said.
“Obviously, we’re investing a lot, and it is showing up in the R&D spending that you’re looking at.”
Apple’s research and development spending hit $22.61bn for the fiscal year so far, up $3.12bn year-on-year.
Last month Apple’s sales in the UK hit a new record of £1.5bn thanks to strong demand for its top-of-the-range iPhones.
Its UK retail arm, which includes its physical stores, saw revenues surge 61% in the 12 months to September 24 as it recovered post-pandemic after revenue dropped from £1.4bn in 2019 to £971m back in 2021.
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