Apple’s iPhone sales showed resilience between April and June, despite the coronavirus pandemic’s continued spread, upending lives and disrupting business across the globe.…
Apple’s iPhone sales showed resilience between April and June, despite the coronavirus pandemic’s continued spread, upending lives and disrupting business across the globe. Apple, in the midst of a strong fiscal third-quarter report, signaled its success navigating the global health emergency has its limits, and that means the new iPhone will be coming later than usual.
The tech giant twice warned investors during a conference call Thursday that its expected new iPhone, which Apple watchers say will likely include 5G wireless radios among other things, will be delayed from its typical September launch.
« As you know, last year we started selling iPhones in late September. This year, we project supply to be available a few weeks later, » said Apple CFO Luca Maestri.
When an analyst later asked him to clarify, Maestri said a new iPhone was coming, we’d just have to wait. « A year ago we launched the new iPhone in late September, » he said. « This year, the supply of the new product will be a few weeks later than that. »
There’s a reason for Wall Street’s obsession over the iPhone. The smartphone is Apple’s most important product, representing more than half its revenue in at least the last six years. The device is also largely responsible for turning Apple into the juggernaut it is today, worth more than $1.65 trillion on Wall Street and producing more than 1.5 billion devices actively being used across the globe.
Apple’s latest financial disclosures are just the latest sign of how the coronavirus pandemic has impacted the world economy. In the US, overall smartphone sales fell by a quarter in the same period, according to Counterpoint Research. Apple derives most of its revenue from the sale of its iPhones, which saw a slight tick up from a year ago.
Broadly, more than 40 million Americans have filed for unemployment, raising questions about whether consumers will have the appetite to buy pricey new gadgets.
