Two years ago, Apple introduced iPhon 6 and iPhone 6S. Since then, the tech company did everything they can to gain back the customers and have better sales after the year.
After all the hard work, Apple is still struggling to reignite their loss. The release of iPhone 7 and 7 Plus, which went on sales last month, has an improved camera and is more water resistant compared to the iPhone 6 series. But it looks like, despite its improvement, it doesn't give consumers enough excitement to upgrade or get a new smartphone.
Apple's iPhone difficulties were clear for everyone to see on Tuesday when the company released its financial results for the quarter ended Sept. 24. The company reported its third straight quarter of weaker iPhone sales, marking its first fiscal year of lower phone sales since the blockbuster device was introduced in 2007. Sales and profit for the year were also down.
According to the report of Engadget, Apple just announced financial results for its 4th quarter 2016, and it marks the third straight quarter of declining revenues. The company pulled in revenues of $46.9 billion, down about 9 percent from one year ago. As for its key products, each was down as well. Apple sold 45.5 million iPhones, 9.3 million iPads, and 4.9 million MacBooks in the said quarter -- that's a year-over-year decline of 5.2 percent for iPhones, 6 percent for iPads and a large 14 percent for the MacBooks. Not a huge surprise, given that Apple has only updated one single computer out of its lineup for all of 2016.
"Our strong September quarter results cap a very successful fiscal 2016 for Apple," CEO Tim Cook said in a statement. "We're thrilled with the customer response to iPhone 7, iPhone 7 Plus and Apple Watch Series 2, as well as the incredible momentum of our Services business, where revenue grew 24 percent to set another all-time record."
Compared with a year ago, Apple revenues are up in Europe and Japan, while down in China and the Americas. China especially should be a worry for Apple. Sales there declined by 30% year over year. iPhone, iPad, and Mac unit sales all fell from last year, with "services" like the App Store, Apple Music, and Apple Pay the only product segment going up, as reported by Forbes.
On Thursday, Apple is expected to announce new versions of its flagship MacBook laptops at an event on its campus in Cupertino, CA. Let us hope that this will give effect to their annual sales reports next year.
