In a rare move, Apple unexpectedly cuts its revenue forecast for the fiscal first quarter of 2019 due to weakness in China and lower-than-anticipated iPhone revenue. The company now sees first quarter revenue of $84 billion, from the $91.3 billion anticipated previously. “While we anticipated some challenges in key emerging markets, we did not foresee the magnitude of the economic deceleration, particularly in Greater China. In fact, most of our revenue shortfall to our guidance, and over 100 percent of our year-over-year worldwide revenue decline, occurred in Greater China across iPhone, Mac and iPad,” said CEO Tim Cook. Read more for a video explaining what one popular YouTuber would like to see Apple change this year and additional information.
Though Greater China weakness and other emerging markets caused the “vast majority of the year-over-year iPhone revenue decline,” in some developed markets, iPhone upgrades also came in weaker-than-expected.
“While macroeconomic challenges in some markets were a key contributor to this trend, we believe there are other factors broadly impacting our iPhone performance, including consumers adapting to a world with fewer carrier subsidies, U.S. dollar strength-related price increases, and some customers taking advantage of significantly reduced pricing for iPhone battery replacements,” adds Cook.
