Apple exceeds expectations with iPhone sales

Apple’s revenue declined again in the March 2023 quarter, marking its second consecutive quarterly drop in sales. But the tech giant topped Wall Street forecasts, with its services business hitting a new record for revenue and iPhone sales showing unexpected strength.

Between January to March, revenue was down 3%, while net income decreased 3.4% to $24.2 billion. Revenue was expected to be about $92.96 billion and earnings to be $1.43 per share based on predictions and analysis.

A $20.9 billion total was earned by Apple's Services division in 2022’s second quarter. This was .including Apple Pay, Apple TV+, and iCloud.

CFO Luca Maestri said Apple reached 975 million users for digital services during the quarter (including Apple-branded services like Apple Music and Apple TV+ and those via third-party applications).

The company anticipates a decline comparable to the 3 percent in the March quarter in June 2023, assuming "the macroeconomic outlook does not worsen,” Maestri said. He said Services segment revenue will show growth in the June quarter similar to the most recent quarter, but called out headwinds in digital advertising and mobile games.

Analysts had expected sales of Apple’s flagship iPhones to decline about 4% — but smartphone sales were up 1.5% year over year, to $51.3 billion (an all-time high for a March quarter). Dragging down the company’s top line were its Mac unit, with sales plunging 31% to $7.2 billion, and iPad, which saw revenue drop 13% to $6.7 billion. Sales in Apple’s Wearables, Home and Accessories segment declined 0.6%, to $8.76 billion.