Apple Q4 earnings: While iPhone sales fall, company still makes $64 billion profit

Apple has posted its earnings for the fourth quarter of 2019. The company posted the results for July-September 2019.

The earnings figures have brought out an interesting fact – even though iPhone sales are falling year-on-year, Apple as a company is still posting record earnings – the company has gained $64 billion in revenue during this quarter.

While iPhone sales for Q4 2019 were at $33.4 billion, the sales for the same period last year were $36.8 billion. – the company sold $3.4 billion less worth of iPhones in Q4 this year. The credit of this development goes to Apple's strategy – the company has diversified rapidly in the face of market saturation despite following a single strategy for many years. Apple now sells cheaper iPhones, earphones, smart speakers and other such devices rather than just premium devices. It is also now providing services such as Apple Pay.

Instead of iPhones, iPads and wearables have gained in terms of sales. iPad sales grew $0.8 billion quarter on quarter, while the services grew a massive $1.9 billion. The "wearables, home and accessories" sales grew even more - $2.3 billion quarter on quarter.

The company's overall sales, owing to its continued diversification have grown from $62.9 billion to $64 billion quarter-on-quarter.

Apple CEO Tim Cook stated on its website, expressing enthusiasm for the next quarter" With customers and reviewers raving about the new generation of iPhones, today's debut of new, noise-cancelling AirPods Pro, the hotly-anticipated arrival of Apple TV+ just two days away, and our best line-up of products and services ever, we're very optimistic about what the holiday quarter has in store."

One of the reasons behind falling iPhone sales is the US-China trade war. iPhone sales from one of the world's largest smartphone markets, China, have nosedived. Apple's annual growth in China fell by 28 percent year-on-year, while the country's homegrown brand Huawei, gained an incredible 66 percent market share in the Chinese market.

The upcoming quarter will show whether iPhone 11 will change the situation in China for the company.