Apple is forecasting a return to revenue growth in the run-up to Christmas, after reporting a 9 per cent decline in sales during its fiscal fourth quarter.
苹果(Apple)预计圣诞节前公司利润将恢复增长。在第四财季,苹果营收减少了9%。
As expected, Apple posted its first decline in annual revenues for more than a decade as demand for the iPhone 6S failed to match its blockbuster predecessor. Sales for fiscal 2016 were down 8 per cent to $215.6bn.
The world’s most valuable company sold 45.5m iPhones in the three months to September 24, down 5 per cent on a year ago but broadly meeting analysts’ predictions. Profits fell 19 per cent in the fourth quarter to $9bn.
For the December quarter, which is typically Apple’s most lucrative, the company is forecasting sales of $76bn-$78bn, at least 1 per cent up on the same period a year ago. Alongside strong demand for the new iPhone 7, Apple is benefiting from rapid growth in its services business, which includes the App Store and Apple Music.
Revenues from services increased 24 per cent to $6.3bn in the fourth quarter, making it Apple’s second-largest source of income after the iPhone amid another sluggish performance by the Mac and iPad.
Apple is seen as benefiting from the popularity of Pokémon Go, which quickly attracted 500m downloads after its release this summer. Apple finance chief Luca Maestri said App Store revenues were up in the “strong double digits” and Pokémon Go was “just one element of that”. Apple’s music revenues grew 22 per cent.
He said that customers’ initial response to the iPhone 7, “bodes well as we get into the December quarter”. Supplies of the shiny “Jet Black” model are still lagging behind demand, he said, with the larger iPhone 7 Plus proving particularly popular.
Supply shortages made it hard to gauge the impact from Samsung’s withdrawal of its Galaxy Note 7, he said, while adding that Apple was seeing record numbers of people switching from Android to iPhone.
Wall Street investors are struggling to predict whether the iPhone will return to growth over the full year. Apple does not give guidance more than one quarter ahead but Mr Maestri said: “What we are seeing right now makes us very optimistic for the rest of the year.”
Mr Maestri also defended Apple’s performance in China, where revenues fell 30 per cent year on year in the quarter and 17 per cent for the full year. He said that the popularity of the iPhone 6 two years ago made for a “very difficult compare”.