Apple beats iPhone sales forecast but turns in first annual revenue decline since 2001

Shawn Knight

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Apple on Tuesday afternoon published financial results for the fiscal fourth quarter of 2016 which ended September 24, just over a week after the arrival of the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus.

During the three-month period, Apple generated revenue of $46.9 billion with a profit of $9 billion, or $1.67 per diluted share. That’s down from $51.5 billion and $11.1 billion ($1.96 per diluted share) in the year-ago quarter. Gross margin checked in at 38 percent compared to 39.9 percent during the same period in 2015.

Apple said 62 percent of the quarter’s revenue came from international sales.

As The Verge highlights, Apple’s annual revenue declined year-over-year for the first time since 2001, from $233.7 billion in 2015 to $217 billion this year.

The company sold 45.5 million iPhones during the quarter, beating out analysts’ estimates of 44.8 million, as well as 9.2 million iPads and 4.8 million Macs. For comparison, in the year-ago quarter, Apple sold 9.8 million iPads and 4.7 million Macs.

Looking ahead, Apple said it expects to take in between $76 billion and $78 billion for the fiscal 2017 first quarter with a gross margin of between 38 percent and 38.5 percent. Apple is hosting a media event later this week in which it is expected to refresh its Mac lineup in time for the holidays.

It’s not yet known what kind of an impact Samsung’s recalling of the Galaxy Note 7 will have on iPhone sales.

Shares in Apple are down 2.8 percent in after-hours trading as of writing.

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Yeah, but we got to get everybody out there to BUY MORE iPHONES! I need those dividends to go up, up, UP!
 
I'm honestly surprised that Apple didn't sell more. Samsung pretty much tapped out of the ring this quarter with the Note 7 issue. I guess that already have that high end market pretty saturated.
 
I wonder if this is the year Apple goes bankrupt like so many here have been saying for the last 6 years. One of these years they have to get lucky and be right, right?
 
I'm honestly surprised that Apple didn't sell more. Samsung pretty much tapped out of the ring this quarter with the Note 7 issue. I guess that already have that high end market pretty saturated.
I would say the people buying the Note would be people set on the ecosystem they want to buy into with no chance of switching teams.
 
I'm honestly surprised that Apple didn't sell more. Samsung pretty much tapped out of the ring this quarter with the Note 7 issue. I guess that already have that high end market pretty saturated.
I would say the people buying the Note would be people set on the ecosystem they want to buy into with no chance of switching teams.
pretty much this. People going after the Note 7 are hardcore android enthusiasts
 
I would say the people buying the Note would be people set on the ecosystem they want to buy into with no chance of switching teams.
yea, but the average uneducated consumer assumes that because the note 7 had issues, either that 1.) all samsung phones are unsafe or 2.) android is unsafe or 3.) android is not a "finished"/polished/friendly phone ecosystem to use
 
yea, but the average uneducated consumer assumes that because the note 7 had issues, either that 1.) all samsung phones are unsafe or 2.) android is unsafe or 3.) android is not a "finished"/polished/friendly phone ecosystem to use
While I usually would be inclined to agree with you, there is something about this situation that makes smartphones a different case. People who are interested in smartphones are young and very tech fluent, at least when it comes to phones. While older people who do not have lots of knowledge about phones would tend to swing this way, the largest demographic of smartphone buyers are fairly young educated in what they're buying.

Simply put, the target market for smartphones are fairly knowledgeable in the products they are buying.
 
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You can't grow all the time. Sometimes is better to have a stable user base and develop products in depth.
 
I think that it has to do with the closed ecosystem idea, if you are a proponent then you will be apple all the way. I am not and after I-phone 2 I switched to android, I will never go back unless apple opens up. The whole idea I am handling your data, your storage etc is not to my liking and it will never be.
 
Samsung's Galaxy note failure couldn't have come at a better time.

On the eve of the Apple iPhone 7 launch.

apple hoarded Plus models in order to fill demands they knew would be coming from abandonment of the Note 7.

There's new stories that the S7Edge may have the same problem.

Any company that builds in China is ultimately going to pay a high price. Their quality of materials in general is POOR and only high quality-control can help mitigate that fact. All Lithium iOn batteries coming out of that place are suspect.

Remember the hoverboards last year?

Remember laptop batteries a few years ago?

If Samsung hadn't COPIED APPLE and created user-unremovable backs, they might have been able to simply replace the battery with a redesigned model.

I also believe a factor is that Samsung tries to outdo apple with larger specs - which require a larger battery - since none of their junk is optimized. Their phones run warmer I've noticed.

Somewhere there is a massive warehouse filled with returns.

I hope the samsung employee sitting their overwatching it is ripping his hair out - and in the back of his mind he knows what he did wrong.

"we should have never tried to compete with Apple"...

No one is ever gonna trust them again LOL.
 
#1 The economy is still in recession.

#2 iPhones are expensive. Not like those cheaper, dangerous Galaxy devices (I don't even want to call them phones)

#3 The iPhone 6 and 6 Plus are the problem. That phone was PERFECT. It was such a perfect phone that there's no really need to move to the 7 if all you needed was a big smartphone. The 6s was definitely better - as is the 7. Just not "I'm gonna pay another $600 better".
 
I also believe a factor is that Samsung tries to outdo apple with larger specs - which require a larger battery - since none of their junk is optimized. Their phones run warmer I've noticed.
.
When your putting cutting edge hardware that has the power to run VR and support features like wireless charging, your phone you might have cooling issues.
Since the iPhone 7 has the pitiful specs of a phone in 2014, its a safe bet it won't overheat.
Apple phones are plain/average, nowhere near as advanced as Samsung's.
If only I can get my girl to stop hoggin my 2016 VR headset, damn Discovery VR app! Tonight, I'm exploring Belize!


 
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As I see it, this could very well be market saturation with no real innovation coming out of crApple for quite a while. Even if Jobs was a jerk who lacked humility in his later life, he was the innovator at crApple.

Like Bigtruckseries said, if you have a product that is really good, then it is going to be difficult to convince people to move to your newer product which has little advantage over what you already own - not unlike what has been going on at Intel with their newer CPUs that barely outperform older models.
 
When your putting cutting edge hardware that has the power to run VR and support features like wireless charging, your phone you might have cooling issues.
Since the iPhone 7 has the pitiful specs of a phone in 2014, its a safe bet it won't overheat.
Apple phones are plain/average, nowhere near as advanced as Samsung's.
If only I can get my girl to stop hoggin my 2016 VR headset, damn Discovery VR app! Tonight, I'm exploring Belize!



Completely proved my point:

"cutting edge specs".

YEAH LOL.

I can put cutting edge specs into any device, do it cheaply and then let you show your surprise when:

a) half those specs barely work - how's that eye tracking from the S5 doing?

b) Your phones are bursting into flames

c) Your product looks just like everything else.


apples Geatest advatange is iOS. It's the PERFECT mobile operating system because of its simplicity. It reaches across age gaps and even computer-skill segments.

Android is on so many devices - but it doesn't look as crisp and smooth as iOS.

Even if you do prefer the look and feel of Android, there's so many options.

Several dozen companies building Android phones - most of them substandard.

Samsung - to its credit - sits atop the Android market, facing all of the Android competition.

Apple iPhone stands alone.

iOS stands alone.

iPad stands alone.

Thank GOD that Samsung and the rest of those copy-pasta rip off companies can't copy iOS cause if they could, they would. They already know Android's inferior and they wish to Jesus they could put iOS on their devices.

iOS will always stand alone.

There is no real comparison.

iOS and android do not run the same Apps. Compare an Android app to the same app on another android.

They don't make use of the same hardware due to lightning proprietary cables/docks/connections.

And that's the reason you can't beat apple with your paper specs.

And I didn't even mention the advertising.

Samsung's advertising has been cars and houses in flames this year.
 
@Bigtruckseries: just want to point out that Apple builds their products in China too.


It is a shame that we make use of slave labor in Asia. So much slave labor we could be using domestically if these republican and democratic traitors - and their union buddies - weren't making us less productive - in an attempt to force us to be reliant on their "global economy" (read: globalist plot to maintain control and push us towards communism).
 
Sure fanboy.
http://www.techradar.com/news/phone...t-mobile-phones-in-the-world-today-1092343/10

Nothing beats Samsung's crisp displays, they are untouched.
And smooth? You mean limited/plain. Good for a non-techie.
And about all the other fanboy crap you posted, thats just garble not worth addressing.
Apple's phones are average devices, iOS is an average OS.



You think I'm insulted to be called an Apple Fanboy?

I WELCOME IT.

Let's look at some other products I fanboy:

Jeep SRT
Hellcat SRT
Chrysler SRT
Xbox One
Hewlett Packard
EVGA
Nvidia
Microsoft
Mercedes-Benz (especially S-class - which I leased).
Tesla (I am a sharholder since 2012).
Apple iPhone

In fact, I have a great vlog on Youtube:

50 reasons apple is better than samsung and ios is better than android.

And I made that before the Sumsangs started exploding.

That will help you understand my point of view I think.
 
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Nothing beats Samsung's crisp displays, they are untouched.
And smooth? You mean limited/plain. Good for a non-techie.
And about all the other fanboy crap you posted, thats just garble not worth addressing.
Apple's phones are average devices, iOS is an average OS.


If samsung's phones were better...

I'd have a samsung.


But they aren't.

so I don't.
 
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