Apple Inc. said Tuesday that its revenue of the fiscal 2019 first quarter has fallen 5 percent to 84.3 billion U.S. dollars from the year-ago quarter, the first time that the U.S. hi-tech giant has reported a revenue decline for the quarter ending in December in more than 10 years.
Market analysts attributed the drop in earnings largely to the company's disappointing sales in China as Apple reported a 15 percent decline in iPhone revenue for the first quarter ending on Dec. 29, 2018.
Apple CEO Tim Cook said it was "disappointing" that the Cupertino, California-based company has missed its revenue guidance for the past quarter.
The revenue from iPhone sales for Q1 quarter totaled 51.98 billion dollars, slightly below the market forecast of 52.67 billion dollars.
However, Apple said its total revenue from all other products and services grew 19 percent, with services revenue from Apple Pay, Apple Music and iCloud storage hitting an all-time high of 10.9 billion dollars, up 19 percent over the prior year.
The company posted all-time highs in its revenues from Mac and Wearables, Home and Accessories, which increased 9 percent and 33 percent, respectively.
"Our active installed base of devices reached an all-time high of 1.4 billion in the first quarter, growing in each of our geographic segments," Cook said.
He said Apple's net cash balance topped 130 billion dollars at the end of the first quarter.
Apple predicted its revenue for the second quarter of fiscal 2019 will stand between 55 billion and 59 billion dollars, while gross margin will be 37 percent and 38 percent.
While Apple generated "strong operating cash flow" of 26.7 billion dollars during the December quarter, its operating expenses for the second quarter are forecast between 8.5 billion and 8.6 billion dollars.
