Tuesday, 26 April, Apple will publish its financial report for the quarter ended at the end of March 2016. According to analysts, Wall Street, the company from Cupertino is preparing to announce the first ever drop in sales of the iPhone.
In January, the company warned that first quarter revenue of Apple will decrease, as sales of the iPhone. According to analysts Morgan Stanley, in the period from January to March, worldwide sold 51 million iPhones vs. 61,2 million units a year earlier.
Observers believe that the decline of Apple in the mobile market primarily associated with weak demand for the flagship iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus. “Given the similar form factor of the iPhone 6s and the trend towards the weakening in global demand for smartphones, we expect the decline in iPhone sales in the remainder of the 2016 financial year,” said Canaccord Genuity analyst Michael Walkley.
According to the forecasts of most analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters, this year, Apple’s revenue will fall by approximately 3% due to the reduction of sales of the iPhone, which accounted for about two-thirds of the turnover of the Corporation. Experts expect that in January-March 2016 Apple’s revenue could decline by 10% compared to the same period last year and amount to 52 billion dollars. In April-June projected 4-percent decline – to 47,4 billion dollars.
In seeking to address the unfavourable situation in the global smartphone market, Apple released in March, the iPhone SE. Analyst at Pacific Crest Securities Andy Hargreaves believes that this device can put an end to the selling old iPhone with small screens. At the same time, experts agree that determining the financial future of Apple are flagship phones. The output of one of them is expected in September 2016.
According to forecasts UBS analyst Steven Milunovic, in 2017 worldwide shipments of the iPhone will increase by at least 5-10%. Even if the iPhone 7 will not get innovative features, it will spur users of the small “Apple” smartphones (which, according to experts, there are more than 200 million) to transition to larger devices. “Demand for iPhone has not yet peaked,” said Milunovic.
