2016 has not been the best year for Apple. By the second quarter, investors were frantically prepping for a major decline. After all, this year's second quarter numbers were 10 million units off from the 2015 figures.
According to BGR, however, the third quarter was a little brighter for the Cupertino-based company. In fact, Apple shipped 40.4 million iPhones, which met the company's internal expectations, as well as Wall Street's. It was a stark contrast from the previous quarters but was still some 7 million units off from the same quarter of the previous year.
The publication confirms that the 7 million deficit in profit was due in large part because of the decline in iPhone sales. Because of the slowing sales, plenty of other companies are suffering as well. In fact, iPhone and iPad display supplier, Japan Display, had to request a bailout from the government in order to cover revenue deficits.
In addition, Foxconn, which is Apple's top iPhone manufacturing partner, reported a 31 percent decline in second-quarter profits as well. Foxconn reported a 25.7 billion New Taiwan dollars as profit in the second quarter of 2015, which is much higher than this year's 17.7 billion.
According to The Guardian, there are two general things to put the blame on. The first is the struggling Chinese community, on which Apple greatly relied on. Plenty of Chinese consumers are opting for cheaper alternatives to the iPhone.
The other reason is that customers found very few incentives to upgrade to the iPhone 6S when they purchased the base iPhone 6 just one year ago. This only goes to show that Apple's innovations are reaching a kind of stand-still that the company is having difficulty shaking off.
Meanwhile, Apple's competitors have continued to innovate their own handsets. It would seem that Apple's equation to success has proven to be short-term, while its competitors have continuously grown from their experience behind the smartphone giant.
