Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Mobile
  3. Apple
  4. Computing
  5. Music
  6. Wearables
  7. Web
  8. News

Apple sees first year-over-year revenue decline in 13 years on falling iPhone, Mac sales

Add as a preferred source on Google

Apple has posted its second quarter earnings for 2016, and it shows the first year-over-year revenue decline in 13 years.

Apple’s revenue for the second quarter, which ended in March, was $50.6 billion, a 13 percent decline from last year. The quarter’s net income also went down from last year’s $13.6 billion to 10.5 billion, which comes out to be $1.90 a share. The company’s gross margin dipped from 2015’s 40.8 percent, to 39.4 percent.

Recommended Videos

“Our team executed extremely well in the face of strong macroeconomic headwinds,” Apple CEO Tim Cook said in the announcement. “We are very happy with the continued strong growth in revenue from Services, thanks to the incredible strength of the Apple ecosystem and our growing base of over one billion active devices.”

The blame can be pointed to falling sales of the Cupertino company’s premier product, the iPhone. Apple shipped 51.2 million iPhones in the second quarter of this year, which is down 16 percent from the 61.2 million it shipped last year.

Mac and iPad sales are also down, resembling a downward trend in the market. Macs went from 4.6 million last year to 4 million, and iPads sunk from 12.6 million units to 10.3 million.

But it’s not all bad news. Apple CEO Tim Cook said in the earnings call that the company has added more switchers (customers who used to own a device from another company) in first half of this year than any other six month period. And Apple is doing really well with its services, as revenue reached its highest ever: $6 billion, up 20 percent from last year.

That accounts for App Store revenue, which is up 35 percent, and Apple Music has reached 13 million paying customers, up from the 11 million it had in February of this year. Sales of the Apple Watch surpassed those of the iPhone in its first year as well, meeting expectations. Apple Pay’s expansion into China and Singapore also helped — the company says its customers have access to more than 10 million contact-less payment locations, with 2.5 million just in the U.S.

If you’re wondering how the iPhone SE impacts these numbers — it doesn’t. The company hasn’t recorded the results yet, as the 4-inch phone launched after the end of the second quarter. Cook says demand has surpassed supply, and the company is working hard to ship devices.

The company has projected its June quarter revenue to fall between $41 to $43 billion, which is down again from 2015.

Julian Chokkattu
Former Mobile and Wearables Editor
Julian is the mobile and wearables editor at Digital Trends, covering smartphones, fitness trackers, smartwatches, and more…
The best iPhone apps in 2026
These are the iPhone apps worth installing in 2026, from better browsers and productivity tools to travel, photography, fitness, podcasts, and games.
ChatGPT Live on an iPhone

If you've just bought an iPhone, ChatGPT, Bitwarden, and Google Maps are three of the first apps we'd consider installing. After that, the right choices depend much more on what you actually use your phone for.

The 17 apps below made the cut because each solves a specific problem well enough to deserve space on your home screen. Some improve tools Apple already gives you. Others add something the iPhone doesn't really do on its own.

Read more
How to reset an iPad: soft restart, force restart, and factory reset
From a quick reboot to a full wipe, here's every reset trick your iPad actually needs.
iPad Pro on table

Even the best hardware from Apple isn't immune to glitches. iPhones, iPads, and MacBooks are known to run for years without issues, but every so often, your iPad needs a reset to get back on track.

The good news is that resetting an iPad is one of the easiest things you can do on any Apple device. It takes just a few minutes and doesn't require any tech expertise. That said, there are three very different types of resets, and mixing them up can cause more problems than it solves. You don't want to wipe your entire iPad when all you needed was a quick restart.

Read more
The best funny and useful Siri commands for iOS and macOS
Siri Ai on iPhone

There was a time when Siri was the best voice assistant. Then it lost its crown to the likes of Google Assistant and Alexa. Now, with the rise of AI assistants like Google Gemini and ChatGPT Voice, the competition has become even more fierce. 

Thankfully, after letting Siri stagnate for years, Apple has finally given it the attention it deserved. And while there's still a long way to go, I cannot deny that I am enjoying using this new Siri, and it has become more useful in my daily life than ever before. 

Read more