Apple has reported slumping iPhone sales in its second quarter 2024 earnings results, as well as a drop in overall revenue.
The American tech giant reported that demand for its iPhones has dropped 10% during the first three months of the year, with only Europe experiencing an increase. China in particular experienced a considerable 8% drop, which isn’t ideal from the world’s second largest smartphone market.
Given this disappointing smartphone performance, and Apple’s continuing reliance on iPhone sales, it’s perhaps unsurprising to learn that the company’s revenue is down 4%. They had to get by with a measly $90.8 billion (about £72.4 billion).
There are mitigating factors for this poor performance. As Apple points out, pent-up Covid demand caused a spike in last year’s figures that was never going to be replicated a year down the line.
Apple sounded a hopeful note that results would likely pick up over the coming quarter, and indeed these results are actually better than expected. Services, meanwhile, are buoyant for the company, with revenue for that sector up 14% from last year – an all-time record.
Next week Apple will launch new iPad products, with an expected major overhaul for the iPad Pro line. It’s sorely needed, because this somewhat stagnant range has seen Apple’s tablet revenue dropping 17% since last year.
Apple’s other big play for 2024 is likely to be generative AI. It’s somewhat late to the game on this one, but expect WWDC in June to focus heavily on artificial intelligence across Apple’s software platforms.
“We believe in the transformative power and promise of AI,” Apple told investors in the accompanying earnings call, “and we believe we have advantages that will differentiate us in this new era”.
