Apple's dominance begins to waver as quarterly report shows underwhelming iPhone sales
Apple’s dominance in the mobile market is beginning to look fragile after the company’s fiscal first quarter earnings revealed underwhelming iPhone sales.
Apple boss Tim Cook
The Silicon Valley giant admitted that sales of its iPhones had missed expectations after it sold 74.8 million iPhones in the quarter, falling short of the 75.46 million target.
Apple chief executive, Tim Cook, said on the company's earnings call that he expects iPhone sales to decline in the next quarter which would be the first decline in iPhone sales since its 2007 launch. A slide in tech company’s mobile sales would a costly blow given that they accounted for 68 per cent of the entire company’s revenue in the period.
The company’s latest iPhone, the 6s, has been viewed by many analysts as offering too incremental an improvement on earlier models and so the figures in its report may signal that customers are expecting more significant changes before upgrading.
Mac and iPad sales were also weaker than expected, tablets sold 16.1 units in the quarter compared to an expected 17.93 million. Macs meanwhile recorded 5.3 million, falling short of the 5.8 million forecast
Overall the report still boasted a number of successes as revenue of $75.9 billion compares to $74.6 billion in the same period a year ago.
Despite the worrying signs Apple chief executive, Tim Cook, described the quarter as a period in which there were "a lot of great things happening in a turbulent environment."
While Apple’s dominance in the smartphone market is beginning to show cracks it remains appealing to Google who paid Apple an estimated $1bn to ensure it remains the default browser on the iPhones.