April 27, 2016•Update: April 27, 2016
By Barry Eitel
SAN FRANCISCO
Apple reported second quarter earnings Tuesday, which indicated the tech giant experienced its first dip in revenue since 2003.
After 51 straight quarters of consecutive revenue growth, Apple posted a revenue of $50.6 billion off a quarterly net income of $10.5 billion between January and March.
During the same period last year, the company earned $58 billion in revenue and had a net income of $13.6 billion.
Apple also announced that the growth of iPhone sales are also down for the first time year-over-year. The company sold 51.2 units of its flagship iPhone in the quarter, while it sold 61 million during the second quarter of 2015.
Last quarter, Apple warned investors that a revenue dip was likely, so the announcement wasn’t a total shock to analysts.
“Our team executed extremely well in the face of strong macroeconomic headwinds,” Tim Cook, Apple’s chief executive, said in a statement Tuesday. “We are very happy with the continued strong growth in revenue from services, thanks to the incredible strength of the Apple ecosystem and our growing base of over one billion active devices.”
Sales of the iPad continued its slump. The company said 10.3 million iPads were sold, a 19 percent decline compared to the 12.6 million sold during the same time last year.
The last time Apple saw a decline in revenue, the late Steve Jobs, the then CEO, had just introduced the world to the iPod music player.
The iPhone and iPad were still several years away from release and the Apple Watch would be unveiled more than a decade later.
Shares of Apple dropped Tuesday amid investor speculation of revenue decline.
After the company released official figures, Apple stock plummeted even further -- more than 7 percent -- in after-hours trading.
