iPhone sales fall below half of Apple revenue for the first time since 2012

Like its arch-rival Samsung, Apple continues to see a decline in its flagship smartphone line. iPhone sales were down a substantial 12 percent over the same period last year but Apple’s pivot towards leveraging its massive install base to drive Services revenue is paying off helping to offset the decline in iPhone sales.  However, the record Services revenue of US$11.46 billion mean that combined with lower iPhone sales mean that for the first time since 2012, iPhone revenue accounted for less than half of Apple’s total revenue for the quarter.

The news arrives at the same time as Apple launched a buy-one-get-one-free offer on the iPhone Xr in its US stores, something that few if any ever expected to see. The special offer involves signing up for a new service with a carrier, but it does underline Apple’s trouble shifting iPhones in the volumes that it has been used to in previous years. However, also helping to fill the hole in iPhone sales was the continued success of its Watch while Mac and iPad sales were also strong with the iPad bouncing back with a US$1 billion increase sales revenue year-over-year.

All in all, Apple still managed to achieve a record fiscal third quarter revenue figure of US$53.8 billion which beat the previous record set this time last year by just 1 percent. “This was our biggest June quarter ever — driven by all-time record revenue from services, accelerating growth from wearables, strong performance from iPad and Mac and significant improvement in iPhone trends,” Cook said in statement released by the company. “These results are promising across all our geographic segments, and we’re confident about what’s ahead. The balance of calendar 2019 will be an exciting period, with major launches on all of our platforms, new services and several new products.”