Apple’s revenues continue to slide despite a smaller-than-expected sales decline and a strong iPhone performance in its second quarter.
Apple said sales for its fiscal second quarter ended April 1 fell 2.5% to $94.8 billion, beating the expectations of a 4.4% drop to $93 billion. Profit was flat at $1.52 per share, compared with estimates of $1.43 per share.
Apple reported net income of $24.16 billion during January, February and March, down from $25 billion a year ago. Operating income was also down at $28,32 billion compared to $29,98 billion in the same period last year.
IPhone sales were up 1.5% to $51.3 billion, offsetting the predicted 3.3% drop thanks to emerging markets, particularly in Brazil, India and Mexico.
“We are pleased to report an all-time record in Services and a March quarter record for iPhone despite the challenging macroeconomic environment, and to have our installed base of active devices reach an all-time high,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO.
“We continue to invest for the long term and lead with our values, including making major progress toward building carbon neutral products and supply chains by 2030.”
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Cook also added that supply chain issues have been resolved: “We had no material shortages at all during the quarter across any of the products.”
Sales grew more than 2% in Europe, but Apple took a 3% hit in China and an over 7% hit in its biggest market in the Americas.
The tech giant’s stock has outperformed most of Wall Street in 2023, up 28% year-to-date, according to Reuters. Apple has mostly managed to steer clear of job cuts affecting most other tech corporations prior to announcing a small number of layoffs within its corporate retail teams.
“Our year-over-year business performance improved compared to the December quarter, and we generated strong operating cash flow of $28.6 billion while returning over $23 billion to shareholders during the quarter,” said Luca Maestri, Apple’s CFO.
“Given our confidence in Apple’s future and the value we see in our stock, our Board has authorized an additional $90 billion for share repurchases. We are also raising our quarterly dividend for the eleventh year in a row.”
