Skip to main content

iPhone sales plummeted, but Apple Music saved the day

apple earnings q4 2017 logo
Image used with permission by copyright holder
Apple’s earnings results are in for the fiscal quarter ending June 2016, and the company is reporting lower sales than the previous quarter and the corresponding quarter of 2015.

To be precise, Apple sold 40.4 million iPhone units, 9.95 million iPads, and 4.2 million Macs in the quarter. For the same quarter last year, Apple sold 47.5 million iPhones, 10.9 million iPads, and 4.8 million Macs — this year’s numbers are down across the board. Notably, there’s a 15-percent drop in iPhone sales from a year earlier.

iPhone demand was stronger than what these numbers indicated, as the company reduced inventory by 4 million units during the quarter, according to Luca Maestri, Apple’s CFO. But the lower-than-expected sales are due to slowing demand for smartphones in general. An example can be seen in Apple’s numbers in China — consumers are opting for cheaper handsets, and that has led to Apple seeing a 33-percent decline in revenue from the previous year in greater China.

Still, the collective hardware sales and revenue from Apple’s other services and products totaled $42.4 billion. That’s a lot — but it’s still down from the previous quarter’s total revenue of $50.6 billion, and is 15 percent below the corresponding quarter for 2015, which saw revenue of $49.6 billion.

“We are pleased to report … results that reflect stronger customer demand and business performance than we anticipated at the start of the quarter,” CEO Tim Cook said in the earnings report. “We had a very successful launch of iPhone SE and we’re thrilled by customers’ and developers’ response to software and services we previewed at WWDC in June.”

As Cook highlighted, the company is boasting of increased revenue from the sale of services. And it’s right to do so — revenue from services, including Apple Music, the App Store, and iCloud storage, jumped 19 percent from a year earlier to $5.98 billion. Still, services are a minor fraction of revenue compared to what the iPhone pulls in.

In the earnings call, Cook repeated how the Apple Watch is the “best-selling smartwatch in the world,” and how the iPhone SE’s demand outstripped supply.

Editors' Recommendations

Julian Chokkattu
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Julian is the mobile and wearables editor at Digital Trends, covering smartphones, fitness trackers, smartwatches, and more…
This one Apple Fitness feature completely changed how I exercise
Someone holding an iPhone with the Apple Fitness app open, showing the Custom Plans feature.

I have a confession to make: I'm not good at sticking to a workout routine. I love running, high-intensity interval training (HIIT), strength training, etc. In the moment of those exercises and in the post-workout euphoria, I feel amazing. But when it comes to waking up early in the morning to do these things before work? Well, that's where I really struggle.

This has been a problem for a while now. I go to bed with the goal of waking up early and going to the gym, but as I groggily open my eyes to snooze the alarm on my iPhone 15 Pro Max, I end up falling back asleep. And I've been repeating this over and over and over again.

Read more
Apple is about to do the unthinkable to its iPads
A person holding the iPad Air 4.

Earlier today, Apple announced that new iPads are coming this May. In my eyes, this seems to be “The Chosen One” generation. We’re likely getting an OLED display, a better keyboard (hopefully), and a chip ready to chomp the AI dinner. This gadget shall finally fill the techno-digital void in my life. At last.

Or maybe I am just trying to blindly convince myself to splurge over a thousand dollars for a machine that is “still not a Mac” and “can never be a fully fleshed out workstation.” But hey, people are spending $3,500 on a headset that gives them a headache and $700 for an AI thingamajig that can’t quite figure out what it really wants to do.

Read more
AirTags range: here’s how far the tracker can reach
An AirTag attached on a keyring

Apple AirTags are a helpful tool for tracking valuable possessions like wallets, keys, luggage, and backpacks. These tags employ various technologies that allow you to track your items from short and long distances using your compatible Apple device, such as an iPhone 15 Plus. You might wonder how far you can track your items with AirTags. It's time to find out.
AirTags range, explained

The range of AirTags varies depending on the method you use to locate them. A Bluetooth connection will work when your AirTags are close to your supported Apple device. Otherwise, Apple's Find My network is utilized. Luckily, you don't have to choose the method because it's selected behind the scenes automatically.

Read more