The late launch of new 5G phones caused Apple Inc's customers to put off buying new devices, leading the company on Thursday to report the steepest quarterly drop in iPhone sales in two years. Apple fell over 5% at one point in after-hours trade, wiping $100 billion from its stock market value.
Since 2013, Apple has delivered new iPhones each September like clockwork. But covid crisis delays pushed the announcement back a month, with some devices still yet to ship. Even as booming sales of Macs and AirPods boosted overall revenue and profit above what analysts had expected, iPhone sales dropped 20.7 percent to USD 26.4 billion.
Investors anticipated lower sales from the Cupertino, California Company’s best-selling product, but the hold-back was worse than expected, particularly in China, where more consumers have access to 5G than in the U.S or Europe. Apple has mostly beaten sales expectations this year and released a range of new products and services that its customers have embraced while largely homebound during the pandemic. Apple said revenue and profits for the fiscal Q4 ended on Sept. 26 was USD64.7 billion and 73 cents per share, compared with analyst estimates of USD63.7 billion and 70 cents per share, according to IBES data from Refinitiv. But the flagship iPhone 12's announcement was delayed until Oct. 13, several weeks later than usual, meaning no opening-weekend iPhone sales are included in the fourth-quarter results.
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