For the first time in 15 years, technology company Apple has experienced a turnover drop: compared to the year before, turnover dropped 8 % to 215.6 billion dollars (almost 200 billion euro).
Weaker iPhone sales
The turnover drop comes as no surprise, as the company had already informed in the past quarters that turnover was slipping, something it did not manage to turn around in its final quarter (ending 30 September). Turnover slumped 9 % in the fourth quarter, down to 46.85 billion dollars (43 billion euro), while net profit dropped from 11.1 to 9 billion dollars (8 billion euro). However, the fourth quarter performance did manage to beat analysts’ expectations.
The weaker results come on the back of the iPhone’s decreasing popularity. It may have sold 45.5 million iPhones in the past quarter, that is still significantly lower than the 48 million iPhones in last year’s final quarter.
For its current quarter, Apple did share some good news, because it expects a 76 to 78 billion dollar (70 to 71.5 billion euro) turnover, which would be an improvement over last year and the first time in four quarters, it manages a turnover increase.
