Apple Reports Drop In iPhone Sales As It Increases Share Buybacks

Apple sold 50.76 million iPhones in the first three months of this year, down close to 1% vs the same quarter last year — and below Wall Street expectations for 51.4 million —  as the company disclosed mixed results for its fiscal Q2.

The tech giant reported $11.03 billion in net income, up 4.9%, on revenues of $52.90 billion, up 4.6%. The top line came in a little below analysts’ forecast for $53.1 billion. Earnings at $2.10 a share, were well ahead of expectations for $2.02.

Apple’s forecast for revenues in the current quarter, at $43.5 billion to $45.5 billion, is below the consensus forecast for $45.7 billion.

But shareholders might be somewhat appeased by Apple’s decision to increase the quarterly dividend by 10.5% and raise its share-repurchase authoritzation to $210 billion from $175 billion.

Company shares are down about 1.8% in initial post-market trading.

“We’ve seen great customer response to both models of the new iPhone 7 RED Special Edition and we’re thrilled with the strong momentum of our Services business, with our highest revenue ever for a 13-week quarter,” CEO Tim Cook says.

In addition to the slip in iPhone sales, iPads units were down nearly 13% from the period last year to 8.9 million. Apple sold 4.2 million Macs, up 4%.