Apple sales lose ground, but iPhone growth strong

NEW YORK

Apple has reported that sales fell for the fourth consecutive quarter when compared to the prior year, but profit rose on the back iPhones and services.

The tech giant made a profit of $23 billion on revenue of $89.5 billion, which was down slightly from the same period last year.

Apple chief executive Tim Cook said iPhone sales set a new record for its September quarter.

The company brought in $43.8 billion from iPhone sales while its services unit selling products such as Apple Music and iCloud brought in $22.3 billion, up 16 percent from a year ago.

The iPhone performance came as sales of smartphones continued to shrink globally in the recently-ended quarter as consumers watched spending.

Apple's strong September sales along with buzz around the new iPhone 15 line-up were signs the current quarter may break the losing trend.

The company said that the supply of premium versions of the iPhone 15 would be constrained until the end of the year, putting a brake on sales.

Sales of computers, tablets and connected accessories all fell year-on-year.

Apple's Macs suffered in particular with sales plummeting by half, to $7.6 billion for the quarter, though this was partly due to a post-COVID sales burst a year ago.

Apple unveiled its latest iPhone lineup in September, with its Lightning charger ports replaced on the newest models by a universal charger after a tussle with the European Union.

The firm said sales in China slipped, but Cook added this was due to foreign exchange factors.

The country remains the company's main manufacturing hub, despite diplomatic turbulence between Washington and Beijing as well as talk of pivoting more production to India.