Apple posted a 2.3% increase in net profit in the third quarter of its staggered fiscal year (from early April to early July), despite a further decline in sales (-1.4%), announced the American group on Thursday. Net income and revenue came in at $19.9 billion and $81.8 billion, respectively, Apple said in a statement, both above analysts’ expectations.
The group’s locomotive for more than a decade, the iPhone suffered this quarter, with sales down (-2.4%) more marked than the market expected. This stall is partially compensated by the services activity, which includes the App Store application store, the Apple Music streaming platform or remote data storage services (cloud). This branch of the Cupertino (California) group now weighs more than a quarter (26%) of the company’s turnover, which was originally entirely focused on its computer and connected equipment, from the Apple II to the iPhone.
The American apple giant now has more than a billion subscriptions to its various services, said its general manager, Tim Cook, quoted in the press release. Another growing segment, connected products, whose growth reached 2.4% over one year. On the other hand, sales of Mac (-7%) and iPad (-20%) fell. Geographically, Apple saw its sales in China accelerate by 7.9% year-on-year, after contracting in the previous quarter.
On the other hand, sales fell in the rest of Asia and in the United States, while Europe was doing well. “We have declined in the United States because the smartphone market is falling for several quarters”, explained the financial director, Luca Maestri, during the press conference presenting the results. He indicated that the group expected, in the fourth quarter (from the beginning of July to the beginning of October), to results “similar” to those of the previous three months. In electronic trading after the close of the New York Stock Exchange, Apple’s stock was down more than 2%.