Manufacturer likely to confirm smartphone’s first decline in its nine year history when it reports its latest financial results tonight
Apple is set to report its first ever drop in iPhone sales when it reports its results for the first three months of this year later today.
In a conference call with analysts on January 27, Apple CEO Tim Cook warned of a slump after the manufacturer reported its slowest growth rate in the device’s nine-year history.
He rejected a claim the decline could be as much as 20 per cent but the continuing struggles of the global economy and significant fluctuations in currencies in most of the major markets it operates in have forced it to take a backward step.
Apple also added in the same set of financial results that it expected to report sales of between $50 billion and $53 billion, which would be a decline from $58 billion a year ago.
The figures being reported tonight will also not include sales of the recently released iPhone SE, which went on sale globally on March 31.
Samsung extends lead
According to market research firm TrendForce, iPhone shipments were down 44 per cent from January to March, while global market share fell from 20.9 per cent in Q4 2015 to 14.4 per cent in the first three months of this year.
The same figures state rival Samsung has extended its lead as the world’s leading manufacturer, increasing its share from 22.1 per cent to 27.8 per cent off the back of strong sales of the Galaxy S7 and S7 edge smartphones, which were released on March 11.
