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Demand for laptop computers and other consumer electronics has weakened.
Alejandro Cegarra/Bloomberg
Apple
reported disappointing results for the December quarter, missing Wall Street estimates for both revenue and profits.
Sales in the iPhone, Mac and wearables segments, in particular, were well short of expectations, raising new questions about how well demand for Apple products—and other consumer electronics goods—will hold up in the face of softening consumer spending and a weakening macroeconomic environment.
The stock initially fell about 4% in after hours trading following the report, before recovering some of the losses.
For the quarter, Apple posted sales of $117.2 billion, down 5% from a year ago, falling short of the Wall Street consensus forecast of $121.7 billion. Profits were $1.88 a share, also missing the consensus estimate of $1.95 a share, and down from $2.10 a share a year ago.
CEO Tim Cook said on a call with analysts that sales in the quarter were reduced by nearly 8 percentage points from foreign exchange headwinds—and that sales were therefore higher year-over-year on a constant currency basis. He also said results were hurt by production issues in China for the iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max, as disclosed last November. And he said that Apple is “not immune” to currently difficult economic conditions.
Apple said iPhone sales in the quarter were $65.8 billion, down 8% from a year ago, and missing the Street consensus of $68.3 billion. The debate on Wall Street will be whether the miss is due only to the company’s China-related production problems early in the quarter, or whether the…
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