iPhone sales continue to drop, at 40 million in third quarter

Sales of the iconic iPhone dropped 21% sequentially, Apple said in a statement.

The company said that it sold 40 million iPhones in the third quarter ended June 30, 2016 and earned a revenue of $24 billion. Unfortunately, the revenue has fallen 27% on a sequential basis and 23% from the same period a year ago.

Apple said that its revenues for the third quarter fell to $42.35 billion as against $50.55 billion in the second quarter and $49.60 billion in the third quarter of last year. This is a 16% and 15% drop sequentially and yearly, respectively. 

However, the company said that it expects a better revenue of $45.5 billion to $47.5 billion in the fourth quarter. 

The only product that has seen an increase its sales and revenues from the sequential three month period is its Mac line-up.

Apple said that Mac sales and revenues went up by 5% and 3%, respectively. However, sales and revenues of Macs are down 11% and 13%, respectively when compared to the same period of last year.

Tim Cook-led Apple Inc announced its third quarter ended June 30, 2016 results on July 26.

Apple did not divulge the number of units of its latest Apple Watch sold but said that revenues from ‘other products’ (that includes Apple Watch) dropped 16% on a year-on-year basis. However, this category saw a 1% jump in revenues from the second quarter.

China continues to be a pain point for the company.

Its revenues in Greater China dropped 29% sequentially and 33% as against the same period last year.

Only Japan saw a year-on-year rise of 23% in revenues but dropped 18% sequentially.

The company said that its revenues from Americas, Europe and rest of Asia Pacific dropped 6%, 16% and 25% sequentially and 11%, 7% and 20% when compared to the same quarter of last year.

The share price of Apple Inc closed down 0.69%, at $96.67 per share on NASDAQ but after markets buying saw buying with the shares rallying to $104 per share.

Apple is providing the following guidance for its fiscal 2016 fourth quarter:

• revenue between $45.5 billion and $47.5 billion

• gross margin between 37.5% and 38%

• operating expenses between $6.05 billion and $6.15 billion

• other income/(expense) of $350 million

• tax rate of 25.5%